Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, said the Republican Party’s defeat in the United States midterm elections showed that democracy in that country is still alive, but this outcome should not distract Europe from safeguarding its interests.

Barrot added: “If we allow this result, even for a moment, to divert us from a vital and urgent necessity—an urgency that guarantees our national independence and creates a stronger, more prosperous, and more democratic Europe—we will be making a serious mistake.”