Faced with a possible second Trump presidency, French PM says Europe needs security independence

As the world braces for an election that could return Donald Trump to the White House, the prime minister of France says he doesn't want his country's security, or the security of the European Union, to depend on voters in the United States.

Trump, who has long been a critic of the the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has sown doubts during his presidential campaign about his commitment to the alliance's principle of collective defence — the principle that defines an attack on one NATO ally as an attack on all of them.

«We need to depend mostly on ourselves,» French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said in an exclusive English-language interview with CBC's «We need a second life guard… we have NATO, but we also need to increase even more our defence policy in the EU.»

«I don't want our security, our choices, our ability to support Ukraine to depend on elections over the Atlantic,» Attal told host David Cochrane.

During his first term as U.S. president, Trump repeatedly accused NATO allies of not spending enough on defence and of relying too much on the American military for their security.

In February, Trump set off alarm bells across the alliance when he claimed at a campaign rally that he told a leader of a NATO country he would encourage Russia «to do whatever the hell they want» to any NATO members he thinks aren't spending enough on defence.

When pressed on whether he fears that Trump could abandon NATO if Russia escalates hostilities in Europe, Attal insisted he didn't want to be perceived as interfering with the U.S. election.

«I don't want to meddle in this election but I say that we need to also handle ourselves in the EU,» said Attal, adding security independence has been a priority for French President Emmanuel