Europe needs another "life insurance" policy in addition to NATO, France's foreign minister has said, following comments by US presidential contender Donald Trump that have cast doubt on his commitment to the alliance.
"Yes, we need a second life insurance, not in substitution to or against NATO but in addition" to the alliance, Stéphane Séjourné said alongside his German and Polish counterparts.
He was referring to a speech Mr Trump gave on Saturday when he said he would "encourage" Russia to attack members of NATO who had not met their financial obligations.
Mr Séjourné insisted that it was necessary to build on the European element of NATO and build up its own defence industry and "buy European within the framework of our defence industries and prepare in the event of conflict".
Mr Trump's comments at a campaign rally prompted stark warnings at home and abroad that he was putting the military alliance in peril, renewing doubts over the US commitment to the mutual defence treaty if the former president and current Republican frontrunner wins in November.
"The Atlantic alliance is not a contract with a security company," said Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski.
Recalling that Poland sent troops as part of NATO forces in Afghanistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, he said that then "we did not send the bill to Washington".
French President Emmanuel Macron has himself repeatedly talked up the importance of Europe building its own strategic autonomy and being less dependent on the US, especially after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"We need to take care of the security of Ukrainians, and that means taking care of our security, and yes I think we need a union of defence and security, with joint purchases and pooling our forces," said German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock.
'Alliance à la carte'
Earlier, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that NATO "cannot be an alliance à la carte".
"Let's be serious. NATO cannot be an a la carte military alliance, it cannot be a military alliance that works depending on the humour of the president of the US" day to day, Mr Borrell said.
"It exists or it not exists," he said, adding that he was not going to keep commenting on "any silly idea" emerging from the US presidential election campaign.
The words from Mr Trump - who, when in power, pulled America out of an international pact designed to curb Iran's nuclear programme, and the Paris climate accord - prompted a broadside from current US President Joe Biden.
Mr Biden called Mr Trump's comments "appalling and dangerous".
The Kremlin has declined to comment on the remarks made by Mr Trump.
"I am still (President Vladimir) Putin's press secretary, but not Trump's," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
