WASHINGTON, July  1, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
said Monday he expected European allies to keep up strong support for NATO
despite a far-right victory in the first round of French elections.

Blinken steered clear of commenting directly when asked about the triumph
of Marine Le Pen's National Rally party but pointed more broadly to NATO's
strengthening since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The alliance is moving to make sure that we have the right defenses across
the alliance where they're needed, where they matter," Blinken said at the
Brookings Institution.

"This has been a clear trajectory for the last three and a half years. I
don't actually see that changing irrespective of the politics of the moment in
Europe," he said.

"We have very strong allies, very strong partners," he said, pointing in
particular to Italy -- led by its most right-wing leader since World War II,
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has bucked some of her political allies by
supporting Ukraine.

Since Russia's invasion, NATO has added two new members -- Finland and
Sweden -- taking its total to 32, and 23 of them now meet a goal set a decade
ago of spending two percent of GDP on defense.

France's National Rally has long been tainted by its relationship with
Russia but its leader Jordan Bardella, who could become the next prime
minister, said in a recent debate that he would not let Russia "absorb an
allied state like Ukraine."

NATO holds a 75th anniversary summit in Washington next week which comes in
the shadow of criticism of the alliance from Republican presidential contender
Donald Trump.