Threat from Russian Federation is growing, situation requires maintaining solidarity in NATO, - Barro
France will fulfill its defense commitments to NATO.
This was stated by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barro before the start of the meeting of NATO foreign ministers, according to Censor.NET, citing Ukrinform.
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"I welcome the adoption a few days ago of the updated defense planning law, which includes 36 billion euros in additional defense spending between 2026 and 2030, allowing us to stay on track with the commitments we made at last year’s NATO summit," the minister emphasized.
Barro believes that the security situation requires maintaining solidarity within NATO, and that calls by certain French politicians to withdraw from NATO are "utterly irresponsible."
"In the world we live in, we need these mechanisms of solidarity—which bind us to our key partners and neighbors—more than ever. From this perspective, calls by some French political leaders to withdraw from NATO are clearly ill-advised and utterly irresponsible," the minister said.
He also cautioned against such calls, particularly in light of the growing Russian threat to the Baltic states.
"The threat is growing. Some of our partners—and I am thinking in particular of the Baltic states—have been under constant pressure in recent days due to Russia’s aggression, and they would view such a distancing from an organization that has allowed us to deter and avert any form of threat since 1949 as a betrayal," the French minister explained.
According to Barro, France’s strong presence in NATO is in no way incompatible with other initiatives that France has undertaken in recent months.
"I am thinking, in particular, of the Coalition of the Willing that France and the United Kingdom have brought together, with military planning that is unprecedented in our recent history and that will ensure, once peace is achieved in Ukraine, that this peace is truly lasting," the foreign minister concluded.
