French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that France will increase military spending by more than a third in the coming years, as he unveiled ambitions to transform the French army to deal with the greats. perils of this century.
Acknowledging the end of the “peace dividend” in the post-Cold War era, Macron said the planned budget for 2024-2030 would adapt the military to the prospect of high-intensity conflicts, making the matter all the more urgent since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 11 months ago, Reuters reports.
Macron said that the budget for this period will reach 413 billion euros ($447 billion), up from 295 billion euros in 2019-2025, which means that by 2030, the French military budget will double since he took power in 2017.
“As war changes, France has and will have armies ready for the dangers of the century,” Macron said, speaking at Mont-de-Marsan air base in southwestern France.
Macron added, “We need to be in front of one war.”
He added that France would invest heavily in drones and military intelligence, areas where French officials say recent conflicts have exposed loopholes, and that the army must shift toward an intense conflict strategy.
Macron’s speech came as defense ministers of NATO and other countries gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany amid warnings that Russia will soon reinvigorate its invasion, taking control of parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.
Although France is the world’s third largest arms exporter and the only nuclear power in the European Union, it has been criticized for not sending more weapons to Kyiv.
Macron has ramped up supplies since last summer, sending in Caesar-style truck-mounted howitzers and promising AMX-10 RC destroyers, but French officials say operations in Africa and years of chronic underinvestment made it impossible to do more immediately.
Macron did not announce new support for Ukraine, but said France must be ready for a new era, as threats pile up. Some were ancient wars, others unprecedented, he said, “between sophistication and brutal simplicity.”
He also said that France would enhance its ability to respond to cyberattacks and would increase by almost 60% its military intelligence budget.
Last year, the head of France’s military intelligence resigned just a month after Russia launched what it called its “own military operation” against Ukraine over what officials described as a failure to predict the invasion.
Macron also said that France will pay special attention to its military presence in overseas territories, especially in the Indian and Pacific oceans, where new threats emerge.