French President Emmanuel Macron wants to make the European Union more independent from NATO in the field of defense by amending the article of the Treaty on the European Union, one of the primary treaties of the bloc, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Saturday, citing EU sources
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2019) French President Emmanuel Macron wants to make the European Union more independent from NATO in the field of defense by amending the article of the Treaty on the European Union, one of the Primary treaties of the bloc, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported on Saturday, citing EU sources.According to the publication, the French leader is planning to update Article 42 section 7, which states that if one of EU member states is subjected to an armed attack, the other member states of the union should provide assistance to it.
Paris believes that it was necessary that any EU member state could trigger the article without any obstacles, the paper said.
Macron also wants to ensure the defense capability of the EU if NATO cannot use Article 5 of the charter of the alliance on collective defense.
Earlier this month, Macron said in an interview with The Economist magazine said that NATO had completely lost coordination within the alliance, which can be described as "brain death." According to the French leader, the alliance has no coordination on strategic decisions between the US and other partners.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg later said they did not share Macron's assessment of the alliance, while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stressed that the upcoming NATO summit in London would provide an opportunity to strengthen the inter-Atlantic dialogue, and NATO should not lose the role of a political platform.
