MUNICH — Bearing what he said was a message from President
Trump, Vice President Mike Pence told anxious European political and security
leaders on Saturday that “the United States of America strongly supports NATO and
will be unwavering in our commitment to this trans-Atlantic alliance.”
But while offering that assurance to European partners
alarmed by Mr. Trump’s rise, along with some tough words on Russia and Ukraine,
Mr. Pence also warned that Europe must increase its defense spending in a
dangerous world, saying that “as you keep faith with us, under President Trump
we will always keep faith with you.”
The NATO treaty demands not only collective defense but a
vow to “contribute our fair share to our common defense,” Mr. Pence, making his
first overseas trip as vice president, said at an annual security conference
here.
“That pledge has gone unfulfilled for too many for too long,
and erodes the very foundation of our alliance,” Mr. Pence said, echoing an
early theme of Mr. Trump, who has said he believes that America’s allies have
taken advantage of U.S. largess and not paid their fair share.
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“Europe’s defense requires your commitment as much as ours,”
Mr. Pence said.
NATO allies have promised to reach the goal of spending 2
percent of gross domestic product on defense by 2024, but only five countries
currently meet that figure. Germany, for instance, which has Europe’s largest
economy, currently spends only 1.2 percent of GDP on defense, though it
increased spending by some 8 percent last year.
Mr. Pence said pointedly that while some NATO members met
the spending goal, “many others, including some of our largest allies, still
lack a credible path.” Mr. Trump, he said, “expects allies to meet that goal.
For most that means the time has come to do more.”
Applause for Mr. Pence’s speech was thin. Chancellor Angela
Merkel of Germany, who spoke before the vice president, had argued that
increases in military spending must be gradual to be efficient and effective.
Mrs. Merkel said that spending on other matters — like
development aid, education for girls and women, and caring for refugees — also
contributes to mutual security, as do stronger multilateral institutions like
the European Union and the United Nations, which Mr. Trump has criticized.
Europe needs the support of the United States in the face of
Islamist terrorism and Russian ambition, Mrs. Merkel said, promising to
continue to spend more to meet NATO goals. “We need the military strength of
the United States,” she said.
But she warned against nationalism, without specifically
mentioning Mr. Trump’s “America First” philosophy. “Will we be able to continue
working well together, or will we all fall back into our individual roles?” she
asked. “Let’s make the world better together, and then it will be better for
each of us.”
Ms. Merkel is facing a re-election campaign in September in
which the extent of increased defense spending is already a hot political
issue, as is her handling of the influx of refugees into Europe.
Mr. Pence’s message, which was similar to that offered
in Munich this week by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, appeared to have done
little to reassure Europeans who think that making NATO commitments conditional
on spending undermines the credibility and deterrence of the alliance.
“American government officials need to go back to Washington
recognizing that there are serious concerns in Europe, especially in Germany,
about a host of issues from trade to foreign policy and NATO,” said Steven E.
Sokol, president of the American Council on Germany.
“Even though they gave reassurance, people here will hold
them to it, and will make matters worse if these reassurances just pay lip
service to those concerns and make it that much harder to rebuild trust in what
is an indispensable partnership,” Mr. Sokol said.
Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution in
Washington, said that Mr. Pence had accomplished his main task by conveying the
administration’s commitment to NATO. “It had the big reassurance,” Mr. Talbott
said. “He made clear he was speaking for the president.”
Thierry Montbrial, executive chairman of the French
Institute of International Relations, said that Mr. Pence had done a good job
of “delivering the gospel that people needed of the importance of the
trans-Atlantic alliance.”
At the same time, Mr. Montbrial said, “he said clearly that
he wants Europe to be stronger, which in a way is a good change from the past
when Washington was skeptical about a stronger European defense.”
A senior White House foreign policy adviser, speaking under
traditional ground rules requiring anonymity, said that Mr. Pence wanted to
send a message of reassurance as well as obligation, both here and in Brussels,
where he will meet with European Union and NATO officials on Monday.
Part of that message was strong words about Russia, even as
Europeans wonder about the admiration Mr. Trump has expressed for Russia’s president,
Vladimir V. Putin.
Mr. Pence vowed that the United States will “hold Russia
accountable, even as we search for new common ground which, as you know,
President Trump believes can be found.” He said the United States would hold
Russia to its commitments in the Minsk accords to reach a permanent cease-fire
in eastern Ukraine so that political reforms there can proceed.
Mr. Pence had meetings scheduled Saturday with the leaders
of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and with the Ukrainian
president, Petro O. Poroshenko — all countries facing at least the threat of
Russian incursion — as well as the Turkish prime minister.
In his speech, Mr. Pence spoke of his first trip to Europe
in 1977 at age 18, with his brother, and the impact that a divided Berlin made
on him when he crossed from West to East.
“The vibrant color of the free world fell away,” he said.
“In that moment I came face to face with the choice facing the Western world,
between freedom and tyranny.”
Crediting a number of political leaders of the past in both
East and West, he added: “By the grace of God, and through the leadership of
Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl, Mitterrand, Havel, Walesa — the wall fell, Communism
collapsed, and freedom prevailed.”
