Emmanuel Macron said he will propose a budget of 413 billion euros in the new Military Programming Law for the period 2024-2030 as a way to deal with threats from war.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced this Friday a substantial increase in the budget for the armed forces until 2030, to deal with threats and take into account the impact of the war in Ukraine.
Macron said he will propose a budget of 413 billion euros in the new Military Programming Law (LPM) for the 2024-2030 period, a third more than the roughly 295 billion euro plan for 2019-2025.
The increase is aimed at guaranteeing France’s “freedom, security, prosperity, place in the world,” Macron said, quoted by the US agency AP.
The announcement was made at the Mont-de-Marsan airbase, located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France.
It coincided with the meeting this Friday at the US air base in Rammstein, Germany, of Ukraine’s allies to decide on new support in military equipment for the Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine has been asking for the supply of main battle tanks to deal with Russian troops, who invaded the country on February 24 last year. Macron said the proposed new LPM “reflects the efforts of the country in favor of its armies“, which will be “proportionate to the dangers”.
“That’s considerable,” he said, according to the French agency AFP.
He referred to the threats of hybrid warfare, the increase in cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and the constant threats of terrorism.
The LPM proposal, which will be presented to parliament in March, doubles the budget of the Military Intelligence Directorate (DRM) and the Defense Intelligence and Security Directorate (DRSD), according to AFP.
The plan is intended to take into account the aftermath of the war in Ukraine and increasing defense spending in the coming years to strengthen France’s internal security and its ability to operate abroad.
Macron also advocated modernizing France’s nuclear arsenal to bolster the country’s role as an independent world power.
France is the only member state of the European Union (EU) with nuclear weapons, after the United Kingdom left the bloc.
In France, the presentation of the future LPM was eagerly awaited, since the war in Ukraine highlighted the weaknesses of the French military systemaccording to AFP.
The Government intends to continue with the economic effort in defense, after the LPM 2019-2025 put an end to years of budget cuts in the armed forces.
Source: Observadora
