US President Donald Trump in July asked NATO countries to contribute more to the alliance in terms of defence spending, as it is not “fair” that “many countries [are] nowhere close to their 2% commitment” while “the US is paying for 90% of NATO”.
The United States is turning its back on the European project, according to the French president. It's time to wake up, Emmanuel Macron told The Economist.
The French president warned fellow European countries that they could no longer rely on the United States to defend North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies, adding that there is no coordination of “strategic decision-making” between the allies.
“None. You have an uncoordinated aggressive action by another NATO ally, Turkey, in an area where our interests are at stake”, Macron said in an interview with The Economist, adding “What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO”.
The president also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of Article 5 of the NATO treaty that an “attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all of its members”.
“I don't know”, he said, “but what will Article Five mean tomorrow?”
NATO, according to Macron, “only works if the guarantor of last resort functions as such”.
“I'd argue that we should reassess the reality of what NATO is in light of the commitment of the United States”, the French president added.
Creating a European Army
In November 2018, Emmanuel Macron voiced an…
