In Munich, Pence Says U.S. Commitment to NATO Is ‘Unwavering’

 

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.

Continue reading the main story

“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.”