Spend more if you want to save Nato, UK tells Germany (2024)

Britain is urging Germany to calm President Trump’s anger at low European defence spending by investing in railways and bridges that can be used by Nato troops in a crisis, The Times has learnt.

Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, is understood to be in favour of a “more imaginative” approach towards what Nato regards as defence expenditure as the alliance prepares for a crucial summit in Brussels this week.

He is also keen for Germany to increase its support for Nato by buying more military helicopters, trucks and ferries. These could transport British and other allied forces on operations.

The summit, held every two years, comes at a time of unprecedented strain for Nato as:

• Britain and other European countries fear that Mr Trump will decide that efforts to increase defence budgets are insufficient and withdraw the United States from Nato;

• Concern grows that the US president will strike a “dodgy peace deal” with President Putin of Russia at a meeting in Helsinki on July 16;

• Theresa May risks harming Britain’s “special relationship” with the US as she has yet to agree funding for the armed forces. Jim Mattis, the US defence secretary, has implied in a leaked letter that Britain could lose its place as America’s closest ally to France unless it “significantly” boosts defence spending;

• Tensions mount between Britain and the European Union over their security ties post-Brexit.

“It is interesting but it is quite scary,” a Whitehall source said as he and others prepare for Mrs May, Mr Trump and the heads of state or government of the other 27 members of the trans-Atlantic alliance to meet at Nato’s new £1billion headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday for the two-day summit.

“Normally for a big summit like this you would know what all the announcements are going to be and this week would just be about doing the final preparations,” the source said.

“This time, however, no one really knows - not even the US side - what the outcome will be. It is unchartered territory. It is all going to be up to the whim of the [US] president.”

Mr Williamson sees investment by Germany in infrastructure – such as specially strengthened roads and railways to enable large numbers of Nato troops and tanks to transit Europe at speed – and transportation as a way to improve European military capability and restore US faith in the utility of Nato, according to a source with knowledge of the defence secretary’s thinking.

Spending on bridges and motorways might also be more palatable to German taxpayers than boosting expenditure on bombs and bullets when Angela Merkel tries to win support for her country to meet a Nato requirement to spend at least of 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

“There is a willingness to start thinking more imaginatively and creatively when looking at everything that contributes to defence,” said the source. “We are not attempting to fudge the 2 per cent but particularly investing in bridges and railways would have a real impact on the readiness [of troops to deploy]”.

Setting the scene for a showdown in Brussels, Mr Trump sent letters last month to the leaders of a number of allies in which he criticised them for missing the Nato spending target.

Top of his list of offenders is Germany, Europe’s biggest economy but with a defence budget of only 1.2 per cent of national income and an army, navy and air force plagued by faulty warplanes, tanks, ships and submarines.

Mr Trump believes Mrs Merkel and other allies, including Mrs May, are over-reliant on the security provided by the US military, which accounts for more than two-thirds of all Nato spending and has more fighting power than the rest of the alliance combined.

The Policy Exchange think-tank today calls on Britain to lead allies in winning the US president round and warns against complacency over Nato’s durability.

It urges the government to “break free” from merely meeting the minimum Nato spending target and says in a report that it should signal a willingness to boost defence spending towards 3 per cent of GDP - an increase of £20 billion a year – should the need arise.

Lord Robertson, a Labour peer and a former Nato secretary general, says in a foreword to the report that the alliance is more important to Britain than at any time since its creation almost 70 years ago as “we seek to preserve our security and prosperity”.

A lack of suitably enforced transport infrastructure across Europe means that Nato would struggle to mobilise tens of thousands of soldiers and weapons at speed and sustain a campaign for any length of time – such as a challenge by Russia on its eastern flank.

Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges, a former commander of the US army in Europe, said it took a brigade of 4,000 US soldiers three days just to clear a German port during an exercise last year because of a lack of rail transport.

He thinks that spending on railway lines, trains, roads and bridges that have a dual military use should be added to a list of items that Nato permits to be included as part of official defence spending. This would help allies such as Germany meet the 2 per cent target.

Nato leaders will confirm at the summit a plan for a new logistics command to be created in Germany as part of efforts to improve the mobilisation of troops.

The EU, which has a pivotal part to play in building infrastructure in Europe, is also channelling more money into road and railway projects with a dual military-civilian use.