"The world will not become a safer place with a US president who only calls for more and more military spending and alienates his closest partners. The Trumpist way of fire and fury will lead us nowhere. His fixation on a 2% or even 4% goal is short-sighted and ignorant of other essential instruments for ensuring security. The European way to global security does not only consist of spending ever more money on armies and weapons. Investing in economic, political and social development as well as promoting cooperation and diplomacy can be of equal or even greater importance. This explains why our actions are always taken in full coordination with global actors and in multilateral fora like NATO and the United Nations. Questioning or undermining these important alliances as Trump does, is what actually makes the world a more dangerous place.

 

"The biggest threat to European security we are facing at the moment is not one by guns or bombs but by the Trumpist way of policy-making that is infecting Europe. The governments in Poland and Hungary are undermining democratic structures and mechanisms continuously. In Italy, Austria, and partly also in Germany, leaders are promoting xenophobia and playing with people’s fears in order to gain votes. All of this is applauded, if not supported by US president Donald Trump and his administration. If we want to ensure peace and stability in Europe, we have to defend democracy, rule of law and human rights against the threat of populism and nationalism in the first place.

 

"We expect president Donald Trump to return to a reasonable and respectful way of policy-making. We also call upon him to clearly and unambiguously reaffirm that the US will continue to honour Article 5 of the NATO treaty that states that an armed attack against one or more of the allies in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. This commitment is the core of our historic alliance."