Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 13, 2026
1 min readLast updated: February 13, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleNATO will shift towards European leadership with increased military spending by allies, while maintaining strong US ties, according to Chief Rutte.
MUNICH, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The NATO alliance will become more European-led, with a continuing strong presence of the United States, as European allies significantly increase military spending, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday.
"Over the coming years we will more and more sea a NATO that is more European-led, but at the same time with the US absolutely anchored in the organization," Rutte told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
"We will do this step by step, in close conjunction with the United States, based on the defense planning process we have."
(Reporting by Andrew Gray, writing by Bart Meijer, editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout)
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance established in 1949 for mutual defense against aggression.
Defense planning is the process of preparing military strategies and resource allocations to ensure national security.
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