Rutte said: "Keep on dreaming"

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte appeared on Monday afternoon at the European Parliament, where he participated in a public meeting of the relevant committees and answered questions from members of parliament.

"If anyone here thinks Europe can defend itself alone without the help of the United States, I can only say – keep on dreaming. You cannot. We cannot. We need each other. If Europe were to go it alone, you would have to forget about spending five percent of GDP on defense and think about ten percent of GDP. So, good luck with that," Rutte said.

Many questions concerned talks Rutte held last week with U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos, Switzerland, particularly regarding Greenland and the alleged framework agreement.

Rutte said two courses of action were agreed upon.

"First, NATO allies will jointly take greater responsibility for Arctic security. Second, in which I will not participate, is the continuation of trilateral talks between the U.S., Denmark, and Greenland, which began with a meeting in Washington a week before Davos. I do not have a mandate to negotiate on behalf of Denmark," Rutte said.

"In NATO, we know how capability goals develop and we will define what capabilities we need to defend the Arctic from the increasing presence of Russia and China," Rutte concluded.