France, amid the growing Russian threat, reaffirms its defense commitments within NATO and stresses that a strong presence in the Alliance does not contradict the work of the “coalition of the willing,” which is meant to prepare future security guarantees for Ukraine.
This was stated by France’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Helsingborg, Sweden.
“I welcome the adoption a few days ago of the updated military programming law, with an additional €36 billion in military spending for the period between 2026 and 2030, which allows us to stay on the trajectory and commitments we made at last year’s NATO summit,” Barrot said.
According to him, the current security situation requires maintaining solidarity within the Alliance, and calls by some French politicians for withdrawal from NATO are “completely irresponsible.”
“In the world we live in, we more than ever need these solidarity mechanisms that bind us to our main partners and neighbors. From this perspective, calls by some French political figures to leave NATO are clearly unreasonable and completely irresponsible,” the French foreign minister stressed.
Barrot explained that such statements are particularly dangerous amid the growing Russian threat, especially for the Baltic states.
“The threat is growing. Some of our partners, and I am thinking in particular of the Baltic states, have been under continuous pressure in recent days due to Russia’s aggressiveness, and they would perceive such distancing from an organization that, since 1949, has allowed us to deter and prevent any form of threat as a betrayal,” he said.
He also emphasized that France’s strong presence in NATO is not incompatible with other Paris-led initiatives, including the coalition of the willing for Ukraine, which France and the United Kingdom have assembled to prepare future security guarantees.
“A strong, solid presence of France in NATO is in no way incompatible with other initiatives that France has pursued in recent months. I am thinking in particular of the coalition of the willing, which France and the United Kingdom have brought together, with military planning unprecedented in our recent history, and which will make it possible, when peace is achieved in Ukraine, to ensure that this peace is truly lasting,” the French foreign minister concluded.
