The European Union’s ongoing push to bolster its own defensive capabilities isn’t intended to spawn an alternative to the NATO alliance but to answer a long-standing U.S. call for the continent to take charge of its own security, the French president said Saturday. Emmanuel Macron said Europe mustn’t act to weaken NATO, which connects the continent with its American ally. Instead, Europeans are now stepping up to meet Washington’s demand made over the past decade “sometimes nicely, sometimes less nicely” to take care of their own security. “The lesson we must draw is, let us no longer be dependent,” Macron said after talks with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis . “We Europeans must strengthen this European pillar of NATO, we must strengthen this Europe of defense — not against anyone, not as an alternative to anything.” Mitsotakis echoed the French president, saying the U.S.…