NATO Summit: Johnson ‘UK biggest contributing ally in Europe’
US President Donald Trump had hit out at France’s Emmanuel Macron yesterday, saying his recent negative comments on the 70-year-old military alliance were “nasty”. Mr Trump was quick to blast the French President’s “very disrespectful” words after Mr Macron said NATO was “brain dead”. Representatives of the group’s 29 member countries also clashed over Turkey’s action in northern Syria, which it carried out in defiance of NATO.
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Mr Trump appeared to mock Mr Macron during a joint press conference when speaking about how to address the growing issue of foreign-born jihadists in Syria who are seeking to make their way back to their home nations.
Turning to his French counterpart, Mr Trump said: “Would you like some nice ISIS fighters? You can take every one you want!”
Mr Macron shut down his joke, saying: “Let’s be serious. A very large number of fighters you have on the ground are ISIS fighters coming from Syria, coming from Iraq and the region.”
Mr Macron refused to back down from his criticism of NATO and used his position to reiterate his disapproval for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent moves.
The leaders will today hold meeting at the Grove Hotel in Watford, Herfordshire, for the final leg of the two-day summit.
NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg told delegates “whatever our differences we will continue to unite around our core task”.
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NATO Summit: Macron 'there are topics that concern us all'
Spelling out the task, the Norwegian politician said: “To defend one another, all for one and one for all”.
In a speech delivered to his fellow NATO leaders, Boris Johnson sought
Mr Johnson said: “Seventy years on we are rock solid in our commitment to NATO and to the giant shield of solidarity that now protects 29 countries and nearly a billion people.
“The fact that we live in peace today demonstrates the power of the simple proposition at the heart of this alliance.
“That for as long as we stand together no one can hope to defeat us and therefore no one will start a war.
“This essential principle is enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, that if anyone of us is attacked all of us will go to their defence.”
He added: “If NATO has a motto it is as Jens says ‘one for all and all for one’.
“And this doctrine of coming to one another’s aid incarnated by NATO provides the single most important explanation for why the British people and hundreds of millions of our friends live in peace and freedom today.”
Tensions in the Western alliance could escalate if Turkey goes ahead and blocs NATO plans to expand the defence of the Baltic nations and Poland in the face of an aggressive Russia.
Mr Erdogan has threatened to veto the plans unless the alliance backs his assessment that Syrian Kurdish fighters are terrorists.