PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Monday that the billions of euros of taxpayer money spent on Europe`s military budgets should not be used to buy only American weapons, pushing for more investment in home-grown defence industries.

Speaking minutes before the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has complained that Europeans do not pay enough for their defence, Macron said the continent should spend more. But he added, in a New Year address to military top brass: `We can`t raise debt together, spend more for our defence to subsidise the industry, wealth and jobs of other continents.

`When we say `let`s spend more for our armies`, in many countries it means, way too often, `buy more American materiel`.` France, which has a large defence industry, has often complained when other European Union members have opted to buy US weapons when French or European alternatives exist.

French prime minister Francois Bayrou said France and Europe risk being dominated, crushed and marginalised if they do nothing to counter the policies of Donald Trump.

`The United States, with the inauguration of the president, has decided on a politics that is incredibly dominating,` Bayrou said in the southwestern city of Pau where he is mayor, pointing to the incoming administration`s policies on the dollar, industry and investment.`If we do nothing then our fate will be simple. We will be dominated, we will be crushed, we will be marginalised. It is up to us, French and Europeans, as it is impossible without Europe,` he added.

In a re sponse t o Trump`s re cent demand for incre ase d defence spending, Germany met Nato`s target to spend 2 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence in 2024, the government said on Monday, though well short of US president-elect`s call for as much as 5pc.

Under Chancellor Olaf Scholz`s centre-left government, Germany has ramped up military spending since Russia`s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, both to supply weapons to Kyiv and revamp its own armed forces. But Germany, Europe`s largest economy, has grappled with budgetary constraints, clouding prospects for further longer-term military funding commitments.

Right wing surge Donald Trump`s presidency in the United States will trigger a new right-wing surge in Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday, launching what he called an offensive to `occupy` Brussels.

The nationalist premier, a long-time Trump supporter, envisages a `golden era` for relations between the US and EU member state Hungary under Trump`s presidency, despite a warning from Hungary`s central bank that the incoming president`s proposed tariffs on the EU will hurt Hungary`s economy.-Agencies