French President Emmanuel Macron has stressed Europeans' determination to play a greater role in the trans-Atlantic partnership, two weeks before the NATO summit in Turkey.
"We are committing with determination, we are increasing our budgets, we are expanding our capabilities," Macron said on Wednesday evening at a meeting of five major European member states in Berlin.
At the European level, he said, the aim was to build joint cooperation that would strengthen deterrence capabilities.
"The increase in our budgets in recent years is proof of that - both for us Europeans and for our Canadian partners," Macron said. "It is also a sign of our determination to act together and to strengthen our industrial partnerships."
Macron highlighted the show of unity between Europe and the US at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in the French spa town of Évian last week, particularly with regard to continued support for Ukraine against Russia's war of aggression.
"Essentially, I want to say that we are currently in a phase of rapprochement between the Europeans and the Americans." He said this development should continue at the NATO summit in Ankara.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on Europe's NATO partners to press ahead decisively with building a stronger European pillar within NATO. This should complement the US pillar of the alliance, Meloni said.
