LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron has displaced President Trump as the key source of consternation within NATO, casting doubt on the transatlantic alliance’s efficacy while extending an olive branch to Russia.
“The new disrupter,” one NATO member-state official dubbed Macron.
“Countries might have different opinions of how well NATO operates, but I think we would be better served to keep the rhetorics low and to allow space for compromises and constructive discussions,” Estonian Defense Minister Juri Luik told the Washington Examiner.
There was nothing low-profile about Macron’s public musing that NATO is suffering “brain death” due to political disputes within the alliance. That comment irritated other European allies and left observers “confused” about his implicit affirmation of Trump’s past comments that the alliance is “obsolete.” Such rhetoric could embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin to risk undertaking additional military conflict on the transatlantic alliance’s eastern border, analysts worry.
“The whole idea of NATO is deterrence through solidarity,” Christopher Skaluba, director of the Atlantic Council’s transatlantic security initiative, told the Washington Examiner Tuesday at the NATO Engages town hall. “If you mess with any one of us, the rest of us are going to back up our ally and our friend. So, anything that tends to disrupt the cohesion of the alliance, I think, is dangerous to the goal of the alliance — which is deterring possible enemies, or possible competitors.”
[Related: More fuel: Trump calls Macron ‘a deceitful little guy’]
Macron’s recent comments drew criticism from leaders of the former Soviet countries that feel the most vulnerable to Russian aggression.
“I would like to ask him: Mr. President, don’t talk about the brain [death] of the–of the NATO [alliance],” Polish President Andrzej Duda said during a public panel. “Let’s please propose [to] us what can we do to improve our cooperation in NATO, in European Union, yes.”
The leaders’ anxiety is deepened by Macron pairing his criticism of NATO with a call for outreach to Putin. “We need to reopen a strategic dialogue, without being naive and which will take time, with Russia,” Macron told the Economist last month. “Because what all this shows is that we need to reappropriate our neighborhood policy, we cannot let it be managed by third parties who do not share the same interests.”
Some allies worry that Macron is becoming the kind of “third party” who doesn’t share their interests. “Where the really main confusion lies is what exactly is President Macron’s plan for engaging the central European allies, countries that have tried really hard … to put themselves in the shoes of France and of Paris and to understand the French concerns and the French view of the world are finding that there is little compensation if you will, little quid pro quo,” Tomas Valasek, a former NATO ambassador from Slovakia, said during a public panel.
Luik, while describing Macron’s pledge not to be naive as “very comforting,” cautioned that Paris should be wary of making concessions to Putin.
“We are, of course, quite skeptical because when it comes to Russia, Russians do not put too much stock on [just] discussing issues,” the Estonian defense minister said. “They want to get something, but what they want to get, we usually cannot give them.”
Trump used harsher language in reacting to Macron’s “brain death” comment. “It is a very, very nasty statement,” Trump said Tuesday. “You just can’t go around making statements like that about NATO. It is very disrespectful.”
That rebuke put Trump in the unusual position, for him, of defending the alliance — much to the relief and amusement of the Europeans, who are often frustrated by his skepticism of the security bloc. “There are silver linings,” the NATO member-state official joked.
