French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday banded US President Donald Trump together with Russia’s Vladmir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping as world leaders who are “dead against” Europe.
Macron’s bromance with the mercurial US leader has cooled in recent months, and the White House has made no secret of its anger at Europe’s refusal to take part in the war with Iran.
During a visit to Athens, Macron, who will leave office next year after completing two terms, urged Europe to rise up and use its influence in the world — a consistent theme of his presidency.
“We should not underestimate that this is a unique moment where a US president, a Russian president, a Chinese president are dead against the Europeans,” Macron said in English during a discussion with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“So this is the right moment for us to wake up.”
Macron has long urged Europe to boost its own security rather than relying on the United States, and once again on Friday called for a strengthening of the European part of NATO.
“There is now a doubt on Article 5,” he said, referring to NATO’s founding principle of mutual defence under which members come to one another’s aid if they are attacked.
Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on his willingness to respect Article 5, and railed against NATO for failing to help the US in its war on Iran.
This doubt is “de facto weakening the strength of the alliance”, Macron said.
The Spanish and Italian prime ministers were forced to defend their countries’ contributions to NATO on Friday after a Reuters news agency report quoted a US official saying the administration was now looking at ways to punish allies who sat out the war on Iran.