US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he expects European allies to continue their firm support for NATO after the victory of the extreme right in the first round of the parliamentary elections in France, reported Agence France-Presse, quoted by BTA.
When asked about the historic success of the National Assembly, he declined to comment directly, but spoke more generally about strengthening NATO after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The traditionally anti-NATO party of Marine Le Pen and her allies took a big lead in the first round of France's parliamentary election on Sunday night, with a historic 33.14%, ahead of the New Popular Front, which unites leftist parties (27.99%) and the camp of President Emmanuel Macron (20.04%).
"The alliance is mobilizing to make sure we have the right safeguards in place across the alliance, where they are needed, where they matter,'' Blinken told the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington. "This has been a clear trajectory over the last three and a half years. I don't see that changing, regardless of current politics in Europe," he added.
"We have very strong allies, very strong partners,", Blinken emphasized, pointing to Italy in particular.
"That is why I am confident that we will continue to move forward, and the reason for that is, again, it is in the interest of the people that we are all supposed to represent,", he noted.