French President Emmanuel Macron suggested France raise its military spending from 2.1% to 5% if the U.S. decides to stop defending Europe.
While answering questions from Internet users on Thursday, Macron said he did not know "if 5% is the right figure for France, but in any case, we will have to go up," Franceinfo reported.
Macron called on fellow European leaders to understand their responsibilities.
"We need innovative European spending to innovate together, maybe, in the first place to help Ukraine, but also for ourselves," Macron told social media users, Bloomberg News reported.
"We agree with President [Donald] Trump. We want peace in Ukraine but not a capitulation."
Trump and Macron held a "friendly" 30-minute call about the war in Ukraine on Monday, a White House official told The Hill.
The two presidents discussed meetings among European leaders and the talks in Saudi Arabia between U.S. and Russian officials, according to the report.
Macron is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday.
The French president said he planned to tell Trump the U.S. leader cannot "be weak" in dealing with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I'm going to tell him: 'You can't be weak with President Putin. That's not who you are, it's not your trademark, it's not in your interest,'" Macron told the social media users.
Macron also said that "we are entering a new era" and "the risk is there."
"We are entering a time when we will have to [...] reinvest even more, French and European, to strengthen our defense and our security," he told Q&A participants.
"We are entering a time where each of us must ask ourselves what we can do for the French nation and the Republic."
Macron said he had no immediate plans to send troops to Ukraine.
"I have not decided to send troops to Ukraine tomorrow, no," he said, France 24 reported.
"What we are considering instead is sending forces to guarantee peace once it has been negotiated."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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