Defense Secretary Hosts Security Talks With French Counterpart

View Online Defense Secretary Hosts Security Talks With French Counterpart April 17, 2025 | By C. Todd Lopez At the Pentagon today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted a discussion with French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu.   The two leaders discussed, among other things, increases in defense spending, NATO taking primary responsibility for Europe's conventional defense and efforts toward a durable peace in Ukraine.  " excellent meeting today with my French counterpart," Hegseth said. "We discussed the imperative need for Europeans to meet a 5% defense spending commitment to restore deterrence with ready, lethal conventional forces."  Following a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels in February, Hegseth's public comments foreshadowed themes that would permeate private follow-on discussions with his counterparts in the following months.  He said European allies, including France, must do more to defend Europe and should take primary responsibility for the continent's defense, including security ownership by all allies.  "Our expectation of our friends, and we say this in solidarity, is you have to spend more on your defense, for your country, on that continent," Hegseth said in February, also adding that there can't any longer be an expectation of the U.S. as the "permanent guarantor" of European security.  On social media, Lecornu said his discussions with Hegseth today were productive.

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