European officials have so far kept mum on comments by top US government officials in a private chat that Europe is "free-loading" in the Red Sea, despite spending millions of euros in the past year protecting commercial vessels from Houthi attacks.
Twenty-one EU member states have for the past 13 months taken part in Operation ASPIDES to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea at a common cost of €8 million, with participating governments footing the bill for their own assets and personnel deployed in the area on top.
