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U.S., EU express solidarity in wake of Brexit before Warsaw NATO summit

Xinhua, July 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Transatlantic unity between the United States and Europe was the theme of a meeting involving the European Commission and European Council presidents and U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday morning, hours ahead of the two-day NATO summit set to kickoff here.

Against the backdrop of Britain's referendum decision to leave the bloc, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk met Obama to discuss common political, economic, and security challenges facing Europe.

Donald Tusk said there could be no freedom in Europe without transatlantic solidarity, and any strikes against liberal democracy would be harmful to both Europe and the United States.

Juncker said the EU, the United States, and NATO were mutually complementary pillars of the world's order, saying "negotiations will be made...to ensure Great Britain will be our strong ally within NATO and that we continue to keep close relations between Great Britain and the EU."

Addressing the Brexit outcome, Obama said he considered the European Union one of the greatest political and economic achievements of today, and that it should be kept intact as the world needed a strong, prosperous, and unified Europe. He added it was in the United States' interest that Europe remain united and democratic. He added that his country had advocated for Britain to remain in an integrated Europe since the very beginning.

Obama said the security of the United States and Europe was one and the same, announcing the United States would support Ukraine and keep the sanctions against Russia in place until the Minsk agreement conditions were met. He added the United States would continue its fight against the Islamic State and help the European Union (EU) ensure energy security by providing supplies.

Also ahead of the NATO summit, Juncker and Tusk, alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, signed an EU-NATO Joint Declaration, marking the importance of further strengthening EU-NATO cooperation at a time of what the two blocs claimed unprecedented security challenges from the East and the South.

The NATO summit begins on Friday afternoon and ends on Saturday, bringing together leaders from 28 member countries. Endit