(Photo: AP)

PARIS, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said European Union (EU) member states "cannot remain spectators" in face of growing global threats, calling on them to reinforce the bloc's strategic autonomy and defense budget.

"Let's be clear, the vital interests of France now have a European dimension," Macron said while addressing the future elites of French armed forces at Ecole de Guerre in Paris.

In this context, he offered to open a "strategic dialogue" with willing European partners about the role of French nuclear deterrence policy in continental security.

France "will mobilize the most concerned European partners, in order to define the basis of a common international strategy that can be proposed where Europe is active," he said.

"Our independence in terms of decision-making is fully compatible with an unshakable solidarity with our European partners," Macron said, stressing the necessity of "a greater capacity for autonomous action by Europeans" and a boost in military spending.