BRUSSELS — Europe must build its own military power to survive a more dangerous world and a less reliable U.S., top EU officials warned on Wednesday, sharpening a public split with NATO chief Mark Rutte over the continent’s security future.

“We live now in a world where might is right,” European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said at a conference marking the European Defence Agency’s 21st anniversary.

“Our answer to deal with this dangerous world … European independence. European autonomy. More European responsibility for our own defense,” he said, calling for building a “European pillar in NATO.”

He was echoed by the EU’s top diplomat and EDA boss Kaja Kallas, who warned that what is happening with the U.S. marks “a structural, not temporary” shift.

“NATO needs to become more European to maintain its strength,” she said.

That’s a direct challenge to Rutte, who on Monday branded a European arm of NATO an “empty word” given his immediate focus is keeping the U.S. inside the alliance.

“If anyone thinks here … that the European Union or Europe as a whole can defend itself without the U.S., keep on dreaming,” Rutte told the European Parliament.

But the EU’s top officials are hammering home a very different message: The United States is no longer the lynchpin of European security and the continent has to build its own military potential using its own resources. That’s part of the EDA’s job — to better coordinate the bloc’s military potential.

Neither Kallas nor Kubilius mentioned Donald Trump, but it’s clear that the U.S. president’s challenge to the status quo by demanding the annexation of Greenland — a Danish territory — and undercutting NATO’s common defense provisions, are top-of-mind in Brussels.

“The biggest change in the fundamental reorientation is going on across the Atlantic: a rethinking that has shaken the transatlantic relationship to its foundation,” Kallas said, adding: “These developments put a severe strain on the international norms, rules and institutions enforcing them that we have built over 80 years. The risk of a full-blown return to coercive power politics, spheres of influence and a world where might makes right, is very real.”

She did underline that “The U.S. will remain Europe’s partner and ally,” but added: “Europe needs to adapt to the new realities. Europe is no longer Washington’s primary center of gravity.”

That’s why the EU has signed defense cooperation deals with nine countries — the most recent being with India this week. The bloc “must also turbocharge our collaboration with the selected like-minded partners,” Kallas said.

The EU also has to respond by revamping its structures to make coordinated action easier; currently a lot of security action needs unanimous consent, giving pro-Kremlin countries like Hungary a veto. “It cannot be that the one country’s veto defines the policy for others,” Kallas said.

EU countries will also have to spend more on defense and better coordinate their procurement to avoid wasting money, Kubilius warned. He called the recently approved €150 billion loans-for-weapons Security Action for Europe program a “big bang,” but noted that the bulk of defense spending remains with national capitals.

“Most new money for defense will be national, so the temptation will be to spend only national. That would be a big mistake. That would only increase fragmentation,” Kubilius said, warning that without such an effort, EU countries would continue to undermine their defense potential by buying arms from outside the bloc.

The U.S. is Europe’s largest weapons supplier, but there is a concerted push to keep more defense spending at home, especially for projects financed by EU money.

André Denk, a German military official who is the EDA’s chief executive, warned that the EU “cannot forever rely on U.S intelligence, on their logistic support, on their strategic enablers.”

Kallas and Kubilius also underlined that the bloc’s own defense industries need to step up and produce more weapons faster.

“Show us your lean and mean side,” said Kallas.

The challenges posed by the U.S., Russia and China mean that Europe has to learn to stand up for itself, Kubilius said. “In a world of giants, we too must become giants. A gentle giant that promotes international law and cooperation. But a strong giant all the same.”