According to her, the question of the crisis in NATO, which Macron raised, is not the first.
“I remember very well the years 2002-2003, when the US was preparing for the invasion of Iraq. Some NATO countries immediately said “yes, we support it.” These were the United Kingdom, Poland and the Czech Republic. But not France and Germany. I well remember that at that time, in the spring of 2003, there was already a very strong crack in NATO, ”said Kneisl.
She expressed the opinion that Macron “borrowed this idea a bit from Charles de Gaulle”, who criticized the dominant role of NATO and defended its orientation towards Europe.
At the same time, the ex-head of the ministry noted that on the eve of 2020, when there are other tasks with regard to the EU and Russia, such actions are no longer relevant.
“And brain death, in my opinion, is even worse than total death, because if someone died of a brain, then someone else must decide whether it’s time to turn off the equipment or not,” Kneisl concluded.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump, before negotiations with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on the sidelines of the NATO summit, said that Macron took back his words about the "death of the brain" of NATO.
In early November, Macron stated at NATO "brain death." In his opinion, Europe should begin to think of itself as an independent geopolitical force.
He later said that he was not ashamed of his remarks, since they allowed to launch important discussions about the state of affairs in the bloc.