Nato can weather political storms in US, France: Stoltenberg

BRUSSELS, Belgium: Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said the “resilient” military alliance can ride out any political changes in major powers ahead of crunch elections in the United States and France.

The high-stakes votes on either side of the Atlantic both feature hard-right candidates who have been historically hostile to the military alliance -- and known for warm relations with its chief adversary Russia.

“It has been proven that actually when countries have to choose... between staying in Nato with the protection, the security Nato provides, or of weakening Nato, going alone, they have chosen Nato,” Stoltenberg told AFP in an interview.

“We have proven very resilient because it is so obviously in our interest to stay together, and that applies for the US, it applies for Europe,” he said.

Stoltenberg was talking before the first debate between incumbent Joe Biden and Donald Trump ahead of November´s presidential election in military superpower the United States.