France says EU has 'shed its naivety', needs 'new relationship' with US

The United States and the European Union need to develop a "new transatlantic relationship" after the US election, irrespective of who wins, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday.

Le Drian warned that there "will be no going back to the previous situation, to the good old times of transatlantic relations."

"We will have to build a new transatlantic relationship, which will be a new partnership," he told Europe 1 radio, adding that France would work "with the person elected and the new US government, whatever happens."

Expanding on the need for a reset in relations, he argued: "The world has changed in four years."

"What has changed is the fact that Europe has in the past four years asserted its sovereignty, in the areas of security, defence and strategic autonomy."

Citing as examples plans for a common EU defence fund and EU moves to regulate the European activities of US internet giants, he said: "Europe has shed its naivety in the past four years and begun to assert itself as a power."