US State Dept Backs NATO Amid Macron's Proposal to Create EU Army
01:18 14.11.2018(updated 01:21 14.11.2018)
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States does not want to see the weakening of the NATO amid European calls for an independent military, US Department of State spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters in a press briefing.
In early November, French President Emmanuel Macron called for the establishment of an EU army that would be independent of the United States.
"That is something that's important – NATO alliance to the US government and to many others – and we feel that whatever should be done should not take away from NATO's efforts. That's been a sustained entity that the United States government and many others supported for many years, and so we would not want the weakening of NATO," Nauert said on Tuesday.
She added that US top diplomat Mike Pompeo met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian over the weekend to discussed US-French cooperation on global security challenges and strengthening NATO.
US President Donald Trump reiterated on Tuesday his criticism of Macron's proposal and reproached Europe once again for its reluctance to meet financial commitments within NATO.
On Friday, Trump already launched an attack on Macron, calling the French president's suggestion to establish a pan-European army "insulting." The US president has also insisted that Europe should fulfil its financial obligations within NATO.
On Saturday, Macron acknowledged at a meeting with Trump that Europe should increase its defence spending within NATO and called on other NATO member states to boost their national expenditures on defence, following France's example, which adopted a plan providing for raising the country's defence budget to 2 percent of GDP.
© Sputnik
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