Emmanuel Macron accelerates increase in defense spending in the face of "threatened freedom"

Despite public finances in dire straits, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday an acceleration in the increase in France's defense spending over the next two years in the face of "a more brutal world" and worsening threats, particularly from Russia.

"Never since 1945 has freedom been so threatened," the head of state declared before an audience of high-ranking officers during his traditional address to the armed forces on the eve of the national holiday in the gardens of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, at the Hôtel de Brienne.

Europe is "put in danger at a time when war has been brought to our soil with the invasion of Ukraine , while the United States has added a form of uncertainty" regarding the sustainability of its support, Emmanuel Macron explained, and "our Europe finds itself placed on the edge of a vast arc of crises."

As a result, Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to strengthen the defence budgetary effort already undertaken, by adding expenditure of 3.5 billion euros in 2026 and then another 3 billion euros in 2027, so that the defence budget will have almost doubled in ten years under his two terms, reaching nearly 64 billion euros by that time.

He also announced that he wanted to provide "a new framework" for young people to pursue military training and serve in the armed forces. France's defense budget has already increased from €32.2 billion to €50.5 billion between 2017 and 2025.

"An update of the military programming law" for 2024-2030, which currently provides €413 billion for the armed forces, "will be presented in the fall," the head of state said. However, he affirmed that he "refuses" that this "new and historic effort" be financed by "debt," at a time when the French government is seeking savings to restore public finances.

"Our military independence is inseparable from our financial independence, so it will be financed by more activity and more production," he argued.

"Faced with a more brutal world, the nation must be stronger," because "to be free in this world, one must be feared; to be feared, one must be powerful," the president insisted. "We have a lead, but tomorrow, at the same pace, we would be overtaken."

The French president notably mentioned "the permanence of a Russian threat, on the borders of Europe (...), a prepared, organized, lasting threat, and one which we must be able to face", but also disinformation, the fight against terrorism and even technological breakthroughs which must be monitored, based on the conclusions of a National Strategic Review which will finally be published on Monday.

The additional resources announced should, according to him, help "fill our areas of weakness": ammunition stocks, "saturation weapons and precision weapons", drones, "space capabilities" but also the "equipment necessary on a daily basis for operations to be carried out".

These funds will also be used to strengthen ground-to-air defense and electronic warfare capabilities, the essential role of which was demonstrated by the war in Ukraine. Other European countries have not waited for the target set by NATO member states in June to devote 5% of their GDP to security (3.5% for military spending alone) by 2035 to raise their ambitions.

London wants to increase its defense budget to 2.5% by 2027, then to 3% after 2029. Germany plans to reach a defense budget of 162 billion euros by 2029, or 3.5% of its GDP, and Poland already devotes 4.7% of its national wealth to it.

Emmanuel Macron also once again discussed the European dimension of French nuclear deterrence on Sunday, stressing that he had "mandated the Minister of the Armed Forces to engage in a strategic dialogue with our European partners who are ready for it." "I will return in more detail at the end of this year to the developments this entails," he assured.

President Macron also addressed the issue of mobilizing young people, who must be given "the opportunity to serve," according to the Élysée Palace. "I also believe that we must give young people a new framework to serve, in other ways, within our armed forces," he stated, announcing that he would provide guidelines "in the fall."

A "renovated" voluntary military service could be created to offer young French people the opportunity to receive military training that could lead to their enlistment in the armed forces, a source close to the matter has revealed.