Finland's Sanna Marin says Europe would be in trouble without US

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63838350

Finland's Sanna Marin says Europe would be in trouble without US

Published
19 hours ago
Russia-Ukraine war
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin speaking at the Lowey Institute in
Sydney, Australia on Friday
IMAGE SOURCE,EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
By Alys Davies
BBC News

Finnish PM Sanna Marin has said Europe is "not strong enough" to stand
up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine on its own, and has had to rely on US
support.

During a visit to Australia, the leader of the pending Nato member said
Europe's defences must be strengthened.

"I must be brutally honest with you, Europe isn't strong enough right
now," she said. "We would be in trouble without the United States."

The US is by far the largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine.

Since the start of the war in February, it has committed $18.6bn
(€17.7bn; £15.2bn) in support, a research briefing last month by the
UK's House of Commons said.

The second largest donor is the European Union, followed by the UK, the
Kiel Institute for the World Economy says. But their contributions are
dwarfed by those of the US.

And with European countries' military stocks depleting as they supply
Ukraine, Ms Marin said more needed to be done to bolster European defences.

Speaking at the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney on Friday, Ms Marin
said: "The United States has given a lot of weapons, a lot of financial
aid, a lot of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Europe isn't strong enough
yet."

WATCH: Finland PM Sanna Marin speaks at the Lowy Institute
She added that Europe must make sure it is "building those capabilities
when it comes to European defence, European defence industry, and making
sure that we could cope in different kinds of situations".

While in office, US President Donald Trump regularly criticised European
countries in Nato for not spending enough on defence.


Media caption,
In 2018, Donald Trump told Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg that Germany is
"totally controlled by Russia"

In 2020, it was estimated the US spent just over 3.7% of its GDP on
defence - while the average for Nato's European members (and Canada) was
1.77%.

During her talk, Prime Minister Marin went on to criticise some European
countries' attempts at building closer ties with Russia in recent decades.

"For a long time, Europe was building a strategy for Russia... to buy
energy from Russia and to closen those economic ties, and we thought
that this would prevent the war," she said.

But she said that mindset was "proven entirely wrong".

European countries should have listened to states like Poland and the
Baltics, she said, who had warned that Russia does not "care about their
economic ties, they don't care about the sanctions, they don't care
about any of that" when it comes to invading Ukraine.

Wide-reaching sanctions have been introduced by the EU and the US, among
others, with the aim of limiting the resources Russia has to continue
the war.

Many European Union and Nato member countries have also pledged to
increase their defence spending following the start of the war.

In February, Germany announced an extra $113bn (£84bn) for its army, and
a constitutional commitment to Nato's military spending target of 2% of GDP.

In June, the UK - under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson - said its
defence spending would hit 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade.

All Nato members must commit to 2% to "to ensure the alliance's military
readiness," Nato says. And there have been recent calls on Nato members
to increase their defence spending to 3% of GDP.

Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, formally applied to
join Nato in May. Accession protocols were signed in July, although they
are yet to be ratified by all other members.

Chart showing which donors have contributed the most aid to Ukraine
since late-January 2022