NATO is at least as essential today as it was during the Cold War, Chancellor
Angela Merkel said Wednesday, renewing a pledge to keep raising Germany’s defense spending and arguing that it is important to keep
Turkey in the alliance.
“The preservation of NATO is in our very own interest today, more strongly than during the Cold War — or at least as strongly as during the Cold War,” she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron's recent public criticism of NATO — notably a perceived lack of U.S. leadership, concerns about Turkey since it invaded northern
Syria without warning its allies, and the need for Europe to take on more security responsibilities — has shaken the alliance.