French leader laments NATO’s ‘brain death’ due to US absence

French President Emmanuel Macron says a lack of U.S. leadership is causing the “brain death” of NATO and that Europe must start acting as a strategic world power.

In an interview with The Economist magazine published Thursday, Macron said “what we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO.”

He says President Donald Trump “doesn’t share our idea of the European project” and that the U.S. shows signs of “turning its back on us,” notably by unexpectedly pulling its troops out of northern Syria.

Macron says European members of the 29-member alliance “should reassess the reality of what NATO is in the light of the commitment of the United States.”

Macron and Trump join their counterparts in London on Dec. 3-4 for a NATO leaders’ meeting.