French President Emmanuel Macron defended on Thursday his claim that NATO was experiencing "brain death", saying its members were no longer cooperating strategically on a range of key issues facing the alliance.
"I totally stand by raising these ambiguities because I believe it was irresponsible of us to keep talking about financial and technical matters given the stakes we currently face," Macron said alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after talks in Paris.
"A wake-up call was necessary," he said.