Maintaining Transatlantic unity, U.S. presence in NATO is critical — top EU security official

Rasa Juknevičienė, Deputy Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence, said this in an interview for the program European Space with Yuriy Fizer on Espreso TV.

“I do not think anyone globally knows what can happen, because not everything depends on us. We are in a race against time, especially when it comes to defense and security. Everyone is waiting. We cannot even predict what will happen next week at the NATO summit, or what kind of message we will receive from our most important ally, the United States,” Juknevičienė noted.

According to the former Lithuanian Defense Minister, the war between Israel and Iran is also of great significance. These events directly affect the security situation in the European region, as everything is interconnected—with Russia’s war against Ukraine and with broader global processes.

“I know only one thing. When something went wrong in 1939, Winston Churchill’s famous words were "Keep calm and carry on." So what we have to do is follow a very clear understanding: we must build our security and defense capabilities as quickly as possible,” Juknevičienė emphasized.

The Deputy Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Security and Defence added that it is extremely important to preserve transatlantic unity and to ensure the presence of the United States in NATO for as long as possible.

“I cannot predict the future, but I know what we have to do,” Juknevičienė concluded.

• On June 25, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the NATO summit in The Hague.