NATO experiencing "brain death," says Macron | Power & Politics |

French President Emmanuel Macron claimed that a lack of U.S. leadership is causing the "brain death" of the NATO military alliance, insisting in an interview published Thursday that the European Union must step up and start acting as a strategic world power.

Macron's public criticism of the state of the world's biggest military alliance was rejected by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, setting the scene for a possible showdown in London next month when U.S. President Donald Trump joins his counterparts.

"What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO," Macron told The Economist magazine. He said Trump appears to be "turning its back on us," notably by pulling troops out of northeast Syria without notice.

"So as soon as you have a member who feels they have a right to head off on their own, granted by the United States of America, they do it. And that's what happened."