Merkel: Macron's statement on NATO alliance 'drastic'

(Patria) – French President Emmanueal Macron stated in an interview with The Economist that NATO has experienced 'brain death' due to a lack of cooperation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized Macron's statement, calling it 'drastic'.

"The French President used drastic words. When it comes to cooperation with NATO, that is not my position. Such a blow was not necessary," Merkel stated at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Berlin.

In his interview with the British magazine The Economist, Macron said, among other things, that there is a lack of strategic cooperation between European allies on one side, and the US and Turkey on the other.

Turkey launched an offensive in northeastern Syria last month, disregarding the warnings of NATO allies.

"What we can currently observe is the brain death of the NATO alliance," Macron stated.

When asked if he still believed in Article 5, which guarantees collective defense and based on which NATO members are expected to militarily defend each other, Macron replied that he 'does not know'. He then added that he knows the US would act as allies.

However, his statement was warmly welcomed in Russia, where the spokesperson for the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, called his words 'golden'.

Berlin is currently marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also attending the ceremony, defending the NATO alliance founded in 1949, calling it the most important alliance in 'all of recorded history'.

The next NATO summit will be held on December 4 in London, Euronews reports.