French leader says the planned 2024-30 budget will change the military for the possibility of high-intensity conflicts.
France will boost military spending by more than one-third in the coming years, President Emmanuel Macron said, as he unveiled ambitions to transform the French army to deal with the great “perils” of this century.
Acknowledging the end of the “peace dividend” of the post-Cold War era, Macron said on Friday the planned 2024-2030 budget would adapt the military to the possibility of high-intensity conflicts, made all the more urgent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost 11 months ago.
The spending spree is needed to ensure “our freedom, our security, our prosperity, our place in the world”, said Macron.
The budget for the period will stand at 413 billion euros ($447bn), up from 295 billion euros ($320bn) in 2019-2025, which means by 2030 France’s military budget would have doubled since he took power in 2017.
“As war is changing France has and will have armies ready for the perils of the century,” said Macron, speaking at the Mont-de-Marsan airbase in southwestern France. “We need to be one war ahead.”
The money would notably go to modernising France’s nuclear arsenal.
“Nuclear deterrence is an element that makes France different from other countries in Europe. We see anew, in analysing the war in Ukraine, its vital importance,” he said.
France will invest massively in drones and military intelligence, areas where French officials have said recent conflicts exposed gaps, and the military should pivot towards a strategy of high-intensity conflict.
