Press statement

Thank you so much Mr. President Hollande, for the warm welcome. And thank you also for your kind words.

I remember very well last time I was in Paris because that was during the Unity Rally after the terrorist attacks in Paris.

And I would like to commend you and the people of France for the way you handled that very serious attack on your open society, on the freedom of speech. And that you acted as one, you stood together in protecting our open and free societies, and the values which are so important for all of us.

These are the same fundamental values that NATO protects.

And France is a strong Ally at the heart of a strong NATO. 

I very much welcome the contribution of France, both to our collective defence and to our political cooperation within the NATO Alliance.

Today, we discussed, as you said, both the challenges that we are facing to the east of the Alliance and to the south.

I support your tireless efforts, Mr President, together with Germany, to try to find a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine. This crisis is caused by Russia's aggressive actions, violating international law.

Now, I welcome the ceasefire. The ceasefire is fragile, but it seems like it’s holding. And it is important to build on this ceasefire to create a lasting, peaceful, political solution to the crisis in Ukraine.

It is important that all sides respect their commitments. And that the separatists backed by Russia do not use this pause in the fighting to prepare a new offensive.

All heavy weapons must be withdrawn in accordance with the Minsk agreement.

And OSCE monitors should be allowed full access to be able to monitor the ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons and the implementation of the Minsk agreement.

We strongly condemn the murder of Boris Nemtsov in Moscow a few days ago. He was a strong voice for democracy. And we call on an impartial investigation into this terrible crime.

So we face a changed security environment in Europe. In response, NATO is implementing the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.

And France is playing a key role, and a leading role.

France is contributing to assurance measures in the Eastern part of the Alliance. And France is playing a lead role in implementing the Readiness Action Plan, which increased the readiness and the preparedness of NATO forces.

We are developing our response force, the NATO response force. And we are doubling the size of the NATO response force from 13,000 to 30,000. And we are also making it more ready and more prepared. And France is playing a key role, also by taking the lead of one of the brigades, which is going to be the Very High Readiness Spearhead Force.

This is solidarity within the NATO Alliance in practice. This is following up on the core idea of NATO, where we are protecting each other.

And I’m very grateful for the strong contribution by France to our collective defence and to the Alliance.    

To the south, violent extremism poses a direct threat to the security of all NATO countries. France is also playing a major and key role in fighting terrorism, in the coalition against ISIL, as well as in Sahel and the Central African Republic.

These are significant contributions by France to our shared security. 

During our meeting today we also discussed the importance of strengthening the unique partnership between NATO and the European Union.

And we agreed on the need to reinforce Europe’s defence industrial base.  This is important for both our security and for employment in Europe.

So Mr. President, I thank you for your personal commitment to NATO, to the Alliance.

And I am looking forward to continuing working with you. And I thank you for receiving me and my delegation here today.