French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that Europe must strengthen its defense capabilities while remaining anchored in NATO, stressing that higher military spending should also support Europe’s defense industry.
“If we spend more, it is not to buy non-European equipment,” Macron told reporters after the NATO summit in Ankara. “We French have been pushing for several years that Europeans must defend and promote a European defense industry.”
Macron argued that European countries should increase defense spending and take greater operational responsibility within the alliance.
“The fact that Europeans are investing more and acting more for their defense” was one of the summit’s key developments, he said. “We must do it for ourselves, and that is at the heart of European strategic autonomy.”
He said France has doubled its defense budget through successive military programming laws, and continues to contribute to NATO operations on the alliance’s eastern flank.
“We announced today our participation in NATO’s forward land forces rotations in Finland,” he said.
Macron highlighted European cooperation on air defense, long-range precision strike capabilities, early-warning systems and artificial intelligence. “We are developing European capabilities, and we must defend them,” he said.
Turning to Ukraine, Macron reiterated France’s commitment to supporting Kyiv in its war with Russia and announced that the coalition of the willing would meet again in Paris on July 13.
“The security and freedom of the European continent are also being decided in what is happening in Ukraine today,” he said. “We must absolutely help Ukraine.”
He said the meeting would include new announcements on military capabilities, industrial cooperation and efforts to counter Russia’s shadow fleet.
Asked about France’s reported openness to a possible sale of the SAMP/T air defense system to Türkiye, Macron did not address the issue but emphasized broader defense ties.
“We talked about our bilateral cooperation, economically, in defense, in education, and on many issues concerning our citizens,” he said, referring to his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Macron said the two leaders also discussed Ukraine, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
“We did it in a constructive spirit,” he said, adding that French and Turkish ministers would continue following up on the discussions.
On defense cooperation, Macron said technical consultations involving France, Italy and Türkiye were continuing.
“There is technical work underway between France, Italy and Türkiye. It is this technical work that is continuing,” he said.
Macron said recent Iranian strikes targeting commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz had violated the ceasefire secured with the US last month, but expressed hope that diplomacy would continue.
“We continue to defend the same agenda: peace and stability,” he said.
Macron added that discussions on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs should continue under the framework agreed to in Switzerland.
He also dismissed speculation that the US might weaken its commitment to NATO.
“I have neither heard any conditions nor any statements suggesting otherwise,” he said. “The presence of President Trump here today should not leave any doubt on that matter,” he said.
Macron said Washington’s strategic repositioning requires Europeans to assume greater responsibility for their security.
“We should not do it because someone asks us to. We should do it for ourselves,” he said.
