MUNICH, February 13. /TASS/. The Washington administration expects its European allies to increase spending on defense and maintaining the current world order, US permanent representative to the UN Mike Waltz said at the Munich Security Conference.

The diplomat assured that Washington would actively seek to preserve the existing world order but questioned the willingness of its European allies to do so. "Are the Europeans willing and able to take tough financial steps necessary?" he pointed out.

Waltz argued that Washington has shouldered the main financial burden of maintaining "the rules-based order since World War II." "However, with 37 trillion [dollars] in debt and counting the massive debt load that the Western world is facing, I think it is fair on their behalf to ask 450 million Europeans with the same size economy as the United States, to be more self-sustaining in their own defense," he added.

"We’re asking the rest of the world to be there with us in a fair way financially, because there is a cost of the status quo, and the status quo is not sustainable anymore," the diplomat emphasized.