MOSCOW - US President Donald Trump reiterated on Tuesday his criticism of his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to create a trans-European army and reproached Europe once again for its reluctance to meet financial commitments within NATO.
On Friday, Trump already launched an attack on Macron, calling the French president’s suggestion to establish a pan-European army “insulting.” The US president has also insisted that Europe should fulfill its financial obligations within NATO.
“Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the US, China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the US came along. Pay for NATO or not!” Trump wrote in his Twitter.
In early November, Macron called for the establishment of an EU army that would be independent of the United States.
, stressing that Europe currently was facing numerous attempts to interfere in the bloc’s internal democratic processes and cyberspace.
On Saturday, Macron acknowledged at a meeting with Trump that Europe should increase its defense spending within NATO and called on other NATO member states to boost their national expenditures on defense, following France’s example, which adopted a plan providing for raising the country’s defense budget to 2 percent of GDP.