PADUA, Italy — Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto declared on Friday that NATO, “as it is, no longer has a reason to exist,” and criticized the European Union for its lack of global influence. His blunt remarks come just days before a crucial NATO leaders’ summit in The Hague next week.
Speaking at a conference, Crosetto emphasized a shift in global power dynamics. “Before, the U.S. and Europe used to be the center of the world — now, there is everything else with which a relationship must be built,” he stated, adding, “We often talk as if we were still living 30 years ago, but everything has changed.”
Crosetto’s comments create a stir ahead of a summit where NATO members are expected to agree on a higher defense spending target of 5 percent of GDP, largely to appease U.S. President Donald Trump. While Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently “reaffirmed support for Ukraine and the Atlantic Alliance’s role as an essential pillar for collective defence,” her defense minister clearly holds a different view on NATO’s current efficacy.
According to Crosetto, the alliance has strayed from its original purpose. “If NATO was created to guarantee peace and mutual defense, it must either become an organization that takes on this task by engaging with the Global South — and thus become something profoundly different — or we will not achieve the goal of having security within rules that apply to everyone,” he asserted.
Most NATO members see the alliance as vital for rearming and defending Europe against Russia’s growing threat. Italy has historically been one of NATO’s lower spenders, though the government stated in April it would meet the current 2 percent GDP defense spending target this year.
Crosetto extended his critique to other international bodies, saying both the EU and the United Nations no longer hold global sway. “We talk about Europe as if Europe mattered; perhaps once, it could have mattered, if it had given itself a political role that it did not give itself — if it had equipped itself with a foreign policy or defense,” he lamented. “But its time is over — and I say this with sadness. The world has changed.”
He added that “the U.N. counts in the world as much as Europe does: nothing, less than a national team, less than China, less than India, or less than Israel.”
The significant increase in NATO’s defense spending is a contentious issue in Italy. Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is even organizing a counter-NATO gathering in The Hague on June 24, the day before the official summit begins.
