Estonia to Europe: Trump is right ― it’s time to pay more for defense

BRUSSELS ― Even European countries far from the Ukraine war must face up to the threat posed by Russia and meet defense spending pledges, Estonia's prime minister told POLITICO.

The warning came as U.S. President Donald Trump cast doubt on a core tenet of the NATO security alliance — that an attack on one member is an attack on all and must draw a response.

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the European Council summit in Brussels in the early hours of Friday, Kristen Michal said it was vital that every EU country, no matter how far they are from the front line, pay attention to the messages coming out of the White House.

"These kind of signals probably are messages from Trump that you should take your defense very seriously — so for me it's quite understandable," said Michal. "If you are probably the wealthiest and most free region in the world, you should protect it and invest in your own defense."

However, he said, there is still a battle to be won to convince EU countries further from Russia's borders to get on board with that idea. Seven members of the bloc do not meet the spending target of two percent of gross domestic product.

"For the public, yes usually people tend to prioritize the news that is closer to you, for example during the migration crisis people in the South were more active and involved in talking about it, but people in the North didn't understand at that time. Right now, we have a situation like that where people neighboring Russia are very acutely involved. This is an opportunity to explain and have this kind of burden sharing."

Michal, whose country shares a border with Russia and only gained independence from Soviet occupation in 1991, said he would "probably welcome and support" an initiative from French President Emmanuel Macron for European nations to share their nuclear umbrella amid uncertainty over U.S. security guarantees.

After a 10-hour discussion on Thursday, EU leaders approved a package of measures designed to boost defense spending across the bloc. However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán withdrew his country's support for an otherwise unanimous joint declaration intended to increase support for Ukraine after Trump announced a freeze on military aid to the country.

Responding to a question from POLITICO, Orbán said the policy of Trump "in that respect is more than right."

He declined to comment on whether his own country would boost spending far past its 2 percent of gross domestic product target, having claimed last year an increase "would shoot the Hungarian economy in the lungs."

This article has been updated.