Macron announces plans to boost French defence spending to €400bn
President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans to increase France's defence budget by a third for the next seven years. He said he would ask parliament to approve a new budget of €400 billion for the period 2024-2030, up from €295 billion for 2019-2025.
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The announcement came just one day after French trade unions mobilised record numbers of protesters against pension reform, scheduled to cover the same period to 2030.
If the timing of the spending increase could be seen as indelicate in the light of this week's nationwide protests against proposals to save money by making the French work longer, the coincidence is unfortunate rather than provocative.
The president was in the south-west town of Mont-de-Marsan on Friday to make his traditional New Year's address to the armed forces.
The budget details he revealed are contained in the proposed Military Development Law, and are the result of years of work and wide consultation.
Adapting to new warfare
The legislation has been long anticipated, especially in the light of deficiencies in France's defence highlighted by the war in Ukraine.
Macron said in June that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had sent France into "a war economy" that he expected to last a long time.
The new budget is intended to modernise France's military in the face of multiple potential new threats, the president said on Friday.
"The investment will be proportional to the dangers, which are considerable," Macron told his military audience.
"After repairing the armed forces, we are going to transform them. We need to do better and do it differently."
The president said that France would invest massively in drones and military intelligence, as well as boosting its capacity to respond to cyberattacks.
The country also needs to prioritise its military presence in overseas territory, especially in the Indo-Pacific, where new threats were emerging, Macron said.
Nuclear arsenal seen as key
France will remain a power worthy of respect, Macron assured his listeners.
"We have a nuclear arsenal which helps to ensure European strategic autonomy," he continued. "France is a respected ally in the Euro-Atlantic sphere, and a faithful and credible partner."
The French nuclear deterrent will continue to be modernised. A budget of 5.6 billion euros has been allocated for 2023 alone.
Read also:
- France creates €100m fund for Ukraine to buy weapons
- France's Macron urges armed forces to get behind national service
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