France, US want to strengthen EU-NATO strategic partnership: Emmanuel Macron

Paris and Washington want to strengthen the strategic partnership between the European Union and NATO, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday during a meeting with US President Joe Biden.

The two leaders met in Italy, ahead of the summit of the world's 20 largest economies. This marked their first meeting since last month's falling out over a scrapped French-Australian submarine deal.

"The work that has been carried out in recent weeks, and which we will talk about today, has made it possible, first of all, to clarify a number of points regarding European sovereignty and European defense, which contributes to world security. Together we want to strengthen this strategic partnership between the European Union and NATO," Macron said as aired on the BFMTV broadcaster.

In mid-September, Australia withdrew from a $65-billion submarine deal with France and announced that it would build nuclear-powered submarines as part of a new defense partnership with the United Kingdom and the United States.

(ANI/Sputnik)