NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged the United States to stay close to Europeans at a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic alliance at a time of growing concern about US support in Europe, AFP reports.
"I believe that America and Europe are together in NATO because together we are stronger and safer," Stoltenberg said in the presence of the foreign ministers of the 32 countries of the Atlantic alliance.
"Europe needs America for its security," he added in his speech, delivered in the vast agora at the center of NATO headquarters in Brussels.
"And at the same time, North America needs Europe" for its military contributions, its intelligence networks and the strength of its diplomacy, Stoltenberg added.
"With NATO, the United States has more friends and more allies than any other power" in the world, Stoltenberg added.
The United States has long called for a better distribution of contributions, despite providing more than 70 percent of the alliance's resources.
The prospect of former U.S. President Donald Trump returning to the White House worries European countries, which fear his withdrawal from Europe and an end to U.S. support for war-torn Ukraine. / BGNES
