Macron says Russia's war in Ukraine delivered an 'electroshock of awakening' to NATO, after saying the alliance had 'brain death' in 2019
Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
- France's Macron said Russia's war in Ukraine has delivered an "electroshock of awakening" to NATO.
- "Russia has just sent an electroshock of awakening," Macron he told reporters on Thursday.
- In a 2019 interview, Macron told The Economist that the alliance was experiencing a "brain death."
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Russia's war in Ukraine has delivered an "electroshock of awakening" to NATO.
"Russia has just sent an electroshock of awakening," Macron told reporters. His remarks come as NATO members plan to increase forces in the alliance's eastern flank and bolster support for Ukraine.
Macron had previously said in a December 2019 interview that NATO was experiencing a "brain death."
"The instability of our American partner and rising tensions have meant that the idea of European defence is gradually taking hold," Macron told The Economist at the time. "I would add that we will at some stage have to take stock of NATO. To my mind, what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO."
Macron's 2019 comments were in response to then-President Donald Trump's undermining of the alliance.
"We should reassess the reality of what NATO is in the light of the commitment of the US" and Trump's treatment of it as a "commercial project," Macron said at the time, arguing for European self-reliance when it comes to defense.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has repeatedly appealed for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over the country, a request the the US and other Western countries have denied.