NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speech at Comenius University, 20 FEB 2025

Speech by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte followed by a Q&A at the Comenius University, in Bratislava, 20 February 2025 🗣 | NATO Secretary General: Director, Professor, Thank you very much for the introduction. I’ll send it to my monologue in the future, I need the video. Kidding, it is great to be back in Slovakia, it is great to be back in beautiful Bratislava. Since I became Secretary General now last year, I have visited your neighbours in Hungary and in Poland. So it was time, it was about time to make an official visit to your fantastic country. It is an honour for me to speak at your prestigious university, named after the father of modern education, John Amos Comenius. Like so many of the great minds of the 17th century, he was ahead of his time. He believed in universal education, and that education for all could promote peace and unity among people and nations. And I feel a connection with Comenius. His last 14 years, amongst his most active and productive, were spent in my own country, in the Netherlands. He lived and worked in Amsterdam, and he called it “the jewel of cities, the glory of the Low Countries, the joy of Europe.” I personally have never looked at Amsterdam in that way, but I think he’s right. Schools are named after him across The Netherlands, including in my home town, The Hague. And my old university, Leiden, awards Comenius grants. Comenius was forced from Moravia into exile because of conflict, the brutal Thirty Years’ War. We all know that throughout history conflict has scarred this continent. Preventing war is what we work for every day in NATO. And the theme for our discussion today is, “Building Stronger Defences: The Path to Securing Our Future.” I personally, went to university during the Cold War, but I saw it end. Thanks to democracies standing strong in NATO. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe were forced to join the Warsaw Pact and back the Soviet Union. When the Iron Curtain fell, those same countries joined NATO voluntarily. We welcomed Slovakia into our family in 2004. And we are all safer and more secure as a result. NATO’s policy of enlargement has been one of the great success stories of our time. Alongside the enlargement of the European Union, it has helped to erase many of the painful dividing lines on our continent. And bring us much closer to the longstanding goal of a Europe whole, free and at peace. While NATO got us through the Cold War, we have a hot war raging just next door. We all want the fighting in Ukraine to stop as soon as possible. And that we have a lasting peace, a durable peace. We have all seen what Russia is capable of. Russia’s economy is now on a war footing. It is rebuilding its forces much faster than expected. And it has teamed up with China, with North Korea and with Iran. As you know, there are lots of talks these days on how to end this war, what are the security guarantees that would be needed and how to ensure lasting peace in Europe. But even when the war in Ukraine ends, danger will not disappear. Security is under threat here in Europe, and around the world. We must be prepared for intense global competition. China continues to challenge our interests, security and values. NATO can defend today, but that is not a given in five years’ time. In a more volatile and dangerous world, we must invest more in our own security. We must do this to prevent conflict and protect our way of life. Two thirds of NATO Allies now spend 2% of their GDP on defence. And it is great that Slovakia is among them. Together we are making progress, but during the Cold War Allies had to spend far north of 3% to keep them safe. We are spending more and doing more in NATO today. But we are nowhere near where we need to be. Continue reading: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/op... ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ SUBSCRIBE to this channel https://bit.ly/NATOsubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO News https://bit.ly/NATONewsSubscribe SUBSCRIBE to NATO History https://bit.ly/NATOHistorySubscribe Connect with NATO online: Visit the Official NATO Homepage: https://bit.ly/NATOhomepage Receive NATO updates via email: https://bit.ly/NATOemails Find NATO on FACEBOOK: https://bit.ly/NATOfacebook Follow @NATO on X/TWITTER: https://bit.ly/NATOtwitter Follow NATO on Instagram: https://bit.ly/NATOinstagram Find NATO on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/NATOlinkedin Find NATO on Flickr: https://bit.ly/NATOflickr #NATO #OTAN