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Nato Article 5: Can Europe still count on the US coming to its defence?

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After World War Two , West European countries joined the US and Canada to set up Nato .

Article 5 holds that Nato members will come to the defence of an ally which comes under attack.

Now questions are being asked openly about Nato 's future - most recently by the man set to become Germany 's chancellor.

Merz will be one of the European Big Three, which includes the UK and France in addition to Germany .

He said he wasn't sure if an alliance leaders meeting in June would still be talking about Nato in its current form or whether we will have to establish an independent European defence capability.

Denmark last week announced a major increase in defence spending.