Pete Hegseth, the American Minister of Defense, once again attacks Europeans and calls on them to refrain from “moralizing”

The American Minister of Defense, Pete Hegseth, once again attacked Washington’s European allies on Saturday, May 30, accusing them of having “too long” ignored calls to strengthen their defense and calling on them to refrain from “to give morals”. The leader warned‘”importantes décisions” to come regarding security in Europe, in a speech at a major defense conference in Singapore, the Shangri-La Dialogue.

He praised Asian countries which, according to him, “have long understood that the basis of a lasting partnership is not based on idealistic values, but on a concrete alignment of national interests.”

“When our interests converge, we act together with determination. When our interests diverge, we adapt with pragmatism, without drama and without preaching. I think Western Europe could learn from this.”

The American Minister of Defense, Pete Hegseth.

AFP

Taking up the very critical position of the Trump administration towards the Europeans, Pete Hegseth criticized the latter for having held out for a long time “hollow globalist rhetoric about a rules-based international order while European capitals threw open their borders and emptied their militaries of substance”.

Donald Trump has long demanded that Europeans take greater responsibility for their own security. He wants to reduce the American military presence on the Old Continent, a subject that has come back to the table in recent weeks in the face of their refusal to support his war against Iran. “Europe and NATO have important decisions to make and you will know more soon”a lancé Pete Hegseth.

“For too long, polite appeals to our European allies to spend more on their own defense have gone unheeded.”he regretted. “They are finally catching up”. Under pressure from Donald Trump, NATO set itself the objective last year of collectively investing 5% of its members’ GDP in defense, but most of the countries concerned are still very far from it.

Asked to react to Pete Hegseth’s comments, the French Minister of the Armed Forces, Catherine Vautrin, present at the Shangri-La Dialogue, recalled that she will bring to the Senate on Tuesday the text updating the military programming law (LPM). “In 10 years, (…) we will have doubled the Defense budget. This shows that we are committed to this rearmament approach”a-t-elle déclaré à l’AFP.