European NATO allies have largely filled the capability gaps created by recent US reductions in its reinforcement plans for a potential conflict in Europe, the deputy supreme allied commander Europe told Bloomberg in a Friday interview.
European Allies Step Up
“European allies have definitely stepped up in terms of backfilling the adjustment in the US forces in Europe,” said John Stringer, adding this showed “a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO”. The US recently unveiled significant cuts to the forces it would deploy to Europe in the event of a war or major crisis, leading NATO’s military leadership to ask European members to identify additional forces they could contribute to the alliance.
Alternative Capabilities
Stringer, a former Royal Air Force fighter pilot, said that where European countries could not provide equivalent capabilities, they would seek to achieve the same operational effect through alternative assets. He emphasized that burden-sharing and burden-shifting “is now being done in a sensible, proportionate way, absolutely driven by military logic,” highlighting the readiness of European allies to adapt to changing US priorities and commitments.
Longstanding Rebalancing
Stringer added that the need to rebalance responsibilities has been evident for years and that European allies have steadily increased their contributions. This comes as US President Donald Trump on Thursday renewed criticism of European NATO allies for, in his view, failing to share the alliance’s burden and spending too little on defense. On his Truth Social platform, Trump called it “ridiculous” for the US to continue what he described as a “one-sided” relationship in which Washington shoulders a disproportionate share of the defense burden.
