France boosts defence spending by more than EUR 100 bn
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“We will allocate EUR 413 billion to the French military budget between 2024 and 2030” President Emmanuel Macron announced Friday. In a similar plan for 2019-2025, Paris allocated EUR 295 billion to defence.
Macron said the 2019-2025 defence budget was meant to reverse the trend following “chronic” underinvestment from previous decades. He called the new 2024-2030 budget a transformation programme aimed at adapting the military for participation in high-intensity conflict, a task that has now become an urgency in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Macron has just announced that France will increase its defence spending by 40% in 2024-2030 to €413 billion, up from €295 billion in 2019-2025
— Sophie Pedder (@PedderSophie) January 20, 2023
By 2030 the French defence budget will be close to €65 billion, nearly double its level in 2017 pic.twitter.com/Cjm3XBJgff
“France has and will have armies ready for the challenges of the century,” Macron said in a Friday speech to military personnel at the Mont-de-Marsan air base in southwestern France.
Hybrid warfare, cyber attacks and terrorism
The president further stated that France must be ready for an “accumulation of threats” and “unprecedented” conflicts.
He pointed to hybrid warfare, cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and the threat of terrorism, among others. Macron also promised an increase of nearly 60 percent in the budget for French military intelligence operations.
Nous allons transformer nos armées. pic.twitter.com/s9NjHtVSdp
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 20, 2023
France is to now pay particular attention to its military presence in overseas territory, especially in the Indo-Pacific, where new threats were emerging, he added.
The presentation of the defence budget was eagerly awaited, ever since the war in Ukraine highlighted the weaknesses of the French military, AFP estimated. The defence spending bill is expected to be put in front of the French parliament in March.