Former NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has told RFE/RL that preparations for a European force to deploy to Ukraine after a cease-fire or peace deal are "moving too slowly" and that the whole European security model was "at a turning point."
"I don't want to see a coalition of the willing becoming a coalition of the waiting," Rasmussen said, referring to a plan announced with fanfare by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on March 2.
Since then, there has been a series of meetings at various levels. Yet key questions about the mission's mandate, its rules of engagement, and who would be sending troops, have yet to be publicly answered.
"Typically, in Europe, we spend a lot of time discussing and talking, and too little efforts are spent on taking action," Rasmussen said.
"However, I do hope that Putin's attack on Ukraine and the election of Trump would be wake-up calls that tell us in Europe that we have to move fast."
Rasmussen was speaking in a wide-ranging interview on military issues, economic security, and US President Donald Trump's repeated talk of seizing Greenland from Denmark.
He was Danish Prime Minister before serving as NATO Secretary General from 2009-2014.
"It's shameless to threaten Denmark, a close ally, with military means to conquer Greenland," Rasmussen said.
"I don't think it will happen. But obviously, there is a potential for creating a split within NATO when you are threatening an ally."
Since leaving his NATO role, Rasmussen has created the Alliance for Democracies, a nonprofit organization that seeks to counter what it describes as the global rise of "autocrats and dictators."
Double Defense Spending
Last week the group announced a five-point plan for European defense that included a call to boost defense budgets to 4 percent of GDP by 2028.
This follows moves by the European Union and Europe's military big guns (Britain, France, and Germany) to increase defense spending in the coming years, but it goes well beyond the plans announced so far.
"Russian defense investment is now bigger than the combined defense investment in the rest of Europe. So, we have to step up. We have to at least double the European investment in defense," Rasmussen told RFE/RL.
"For too long, we have relied on a model that doesn't work any longer, a combination of cheap energy from Russia, cheap goods from China, and cheap security from the US."
The convergence of security and economic issues was a major theme at a conference Rasmussen hosted in Copenhagen last week, where the five-point plan was discussed.
An Economic NATO
The 72-year-old political and diplomatic veteran singles out the Trump administration's global tariffs as a new danger that has created the need for a kind of economic NATO.
"The Trump administration declared a trade war against the whole world except Russia and North Korea," he said.
"I would suggest to create what we call D7, seven democracies in the world, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand. And I think the backbone of that should be what we would call an economic Article 5. We would consider an attack or coercion against one of those seven countries an attack on all, and we should respond collectively."
It's striking indeed to hear a former NATO chief excluding the United States from a list of global democracies.
"Yes, but the United States have chosen isolationism.... I don't see an American willingness to exercise the global leadership of the free world. So that's why the US is excluded from this D7," Rasmussen said.
Governments around the world are wrestling with the best response to Trump's tariffs. Closer cooperation and trade with other partners are certainly a part of their calculations.
But, as with defense spending, Rasmussen's proposals go well beyond what's being considered in most capitals.
For example, the European Union's much-touted free trade agreement with four South American nations in the Mercosur group has been cited as part of the EU's collective response to a new environment, but France is still hugely wary of ratifying it.
Meanwhile, the EU and individual countries have all responded separately to US tariffs, seeking to negotiate with Washington rather than form a common front.
Rasmussen offers no easy answers to untangling the complex web of interests that make it difficult for multiple nations to forge new global structures. But, he says, it's the challenge that must be overcome.
"For the 19th consecutive year, we have seen a decline in global freedom and democracy. So now it's time to create a stronger cooperation," he said.
"I know from experience with Putin and other autocrats that they only respect power, unity, and a firm stance…. If we act together, if we act in unity, then we can counter the advancing autocracies."
