United States Begins Review of Its Military Presence in Europe

The United States announced on Monday that it has begun reviewing its military presence in Europe, following statements to that effect made by Pete Hegseth in June during a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby said on X that this step would be “a genuine review aimed at ensuring NATO moves swiftly and irreversibly toward Europe assuming primary responsibility for its conventional defense, as announced by Secretary Hegseth at the time.”

He added, “The outcome of this review will be to accelerate NATO’s transition toward a stronger, fairer, and more sustainable alliance.”

The United States has sharply criticized European countries that refused to allow U.S. forces to use NATO bases on their territory during the war against Iran.

Hegseth also threatened the alliance with a reduction in the U.S. contribution to its budget if certain countries refuse to fulfill the commitments made last year at the NATO summit in The Hague.

At that time, allies pledged to allocate at least 5% of their gross domestic product to security spending by 2035, including 3.5% for pure military expenditures.