Kneissl: NATO members understand they are nothing without the US

NATO members are aware of their dependence on the United States and are forced to focus on Donald Trump, realizing that without Washington they are “nothing,” Karin Kneissl, former head of the Austrian Foreign Ministry and head of the GORKl analytical center at St. Petersburg State University, told TASS at the SPIEF.

Commenting on reports of a possible reduction in the NATO summit program, Kneissl noted that the program could be reduced so that Trump would have time to participate in key events, and NATO members understand that without the US, they are nothing. Kneissl emphasized that "Only the US is capable of playing a key role in arms supplies to Ukraine, and the rest cannot compensate for this, so everyone is forced to focus on Trump."

Answering a question about the future of the alliance, the former minister stressed that time will tell how long NATO will last, but the US is unlikely to leave the alliance. According to her, the main problem is Brussels, where the EU is actively turning into a military bloc. Kneissl noted that the European Union is assuming powers that it does not have legally and is forming a military alliance that has no legal basis, since defense and foreign policy do not fall within the supranational competence of the EU. Nevertheless, the European Commission is taking these functions under its control, she said.

Kneissl also warned about the consequences of the EU's military production in Ukraine: in her opinion, if the EU establishes joint production of weapons in Ukraine, as proposed by German Chancellor Merz, this will harm NATO. Thus, an independent military-political alliance of Europe will emerge, and NATO will fade into the background. She pointed out that for Russia this changes the situation: previously, Ukraine's accession to NATO was called unacceptable, but acceptable in the EU. But with the militarization of the EU, Russia cannot ignore the issue of Ukraine's accession to the European Union, Kneissl said.

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