PARIS (AP) — NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg is meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, whose recent public statement that it is “brain dead” has shaken the military alliance.

Thursday’s talks aim at preparing a NATO summit in London next week.

Macron welcomed Stoltenberg with a little smile and a pat on the back as both men shook hands in the Elysee courtyard. They are planning to make a joint statement at the end of their meeting.

Macron’s office said the French president will push for more unity and coordination within the alliance, and the need for Europe to take on more security responsibilities.

Earlier this month, Macron openly deplored a lack of U.S. leadership as causing the “brain death” of NATO and raised concerns about Turkey since it invaded northern Syria without warning its allies.

Stoltenberg had immediately defended the alliance’s purposes, saying that “European unity cannot replace trans-Atlantic unity."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel —who at the time rejected Macron’s choice of words as “drastic— said Wednesday NATO is at least as essential today as it was during the Cold War.

Germany sought last week to ease French concerns by offering to set up a group of experts to examine the alliance’s security challenges, at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels,

France made a similar proposal but called instead for a “wise persons” group of senior officials to examine the political aspects of NATO’s decision-making.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized alliance members for not spending enough on defense.