MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th February, 2021) The EU will soon bring its defense spending in line with the 2 percent GDP NATO requirement and the bloc will become a much more "credible" partner once this target is reached, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.
"We have to increase our defense investment. We will reach in coming months the 2% of our GDP in defense expenditures. I think this is very important because this is the way to rebalance the transatlantic relations and to provide evidence to our US friends that we are reliable and responsible partners. Having the EU much more invested in defense makes us much more credible as members of NATO," Macron said in his speech at the Munich Security Conference.
He went on to say that as US interests shift away from Europe and over to the Pacific in the ongoing rivalry with China, the EU should focus more on its own defense.
"Europe, the EU, its key members have to be part of the solution of their own security. When we speak about this architecture of trust and security, when we discuss with Russia or China about ballistic missiles or missiles involving our countries we should be part of the negotiations. When we speak about security at our borders it is normal that sometimes the US can decide to be less involved. If we are too much dependent on the US within NATO we can find ourselves in the situation to be no more protected at our borders - and we experienced this situation in 2013 de facto in Syria," he said.
Previous US President Donald Trump made a point of demanding NATO partners in the EU to step up their defense spending and meet the 2 percent target, claiming that Europe was freeloading and using US capabilities without contributing its fair share.
