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full screen Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide. Picture from October. Photo: Thomas Fure/NTB/TT
The EU and NATO need to rethink in order to prevent wars like the one in Ukraine in the longer term, believes Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Labor Party).
– We must organize a security structure in Europe that means we do not see new Ukrainian wars. These are extremely important and existential questions, he tells the NTB news agency ahead of a meeting with NATO’s other foreign ministers in Brussels.
In the short term, Ukraine needs to be given the opportunity to win the war, emphasizes Barth Eide. But he wants to see preparations for a post-war era.
– This means, among other things, that when a ceasefire is in place, and it will happen sooner or later, we must ensure that Ukraine is not exposed to new attacks, he says, adding that it will then be necessary “more than a formal NATO invitation”.
US President-elect Donald Trump has formulated new demands on his NATO allies, that they must reach a three percent goal where each country’s military budget must correspond to three percent of its GDP. Norway is currently approaching that level.
– We must prepare for an expectation that Europe needs to take a greater share of the responsibility. But it is also completely logical, especially now in a much more dangerous time, says Espen Barth Eide.