French President Emmanuel Macron used "drastic words" when he described NATO as experiencing a "brain death", German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, saying that was not her view.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also rejected the characterisation during a joint news conference in Berlin.
"NATO remains a cornerstone of our security," Merkel told reporters.
Macron "used drastic words, that is not my view of cooperation in NATO," said Merkel after talks with visiting chief of the translantic defence alliance Jens Stoltenberg.
"I don't think that such sweeping judgements are necessary, even if we have problems and need to pull together," she added.
Stoltenberg meanwhile stressed that "NATO is strong", adding that the United States and Europe "work together more than we have done for decades".
Macron's explosive comments came ahead of a NATO summit in Britain next month.
"You have no coordination whatsoever of strategic decision-making between the United States and its NATO allies. None," charged the French president.
Stoltenberg is in Berlin for the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Wall on Saturday.
