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.
‘Multiple threats’: Macron raises France’s military budget 40%
BE PREPARED! France's General Lecointre has announced a military recolonization of Africa by France
President Emmanuel Macron has said the era of French interference in Africa was “well over” as he began a four-nation tour of the continent to renew frayed ties.
Anti-French sentiment has run high in some former African colonies as the continent has become a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing in the region.
Macron said France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa before an environment summit in Gabon, the first leg of his trip.
“The age of Francafrique is well over,” Macron said in remarks to the French community in the capital Libreville, referring to France’s post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests.
“Sometimes, I get the feeling that mindsets haven’t moved along as much as we have, when I read, hear and see people ascribing intentions to France that it doesn’t have,” he added.
“Francafrique” is a favourite target of pan-Africanists, who have said that after the wave of decolonisation in 1960, France propped up dictators in its former colonies in exchange for access to resources and military bases.
Macron and his predecessors, notably Francois Hollande, have previously declared that the policy is dead and that France has no intention of meddling in sovereign affairs.
Macron on Monday said there would be a “noticeable reduction” in France’s troop presence in Africa “in the coming months” and a greater focus on training and equipping allied countries’ forces.
France has in the past year withdrawn troops from former colonies Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic (CAR).
The pullout from Mali and Burkina Faso, where its soldiers were supporting the Sahel nations to battle a long-running armed rebellion, came on the back of a wave of local hostility.
Era of French interference in Africa is ‘over’, Macron says
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.
‘Multiple threats’: Macron raises France’s military budget 40%
Africa and Latin America countries should be recolonized by US – Blackwater founder Erik Prince
BE PREPARED! France's General Lecointre has announced a military recolonization of Africa by France
President Emmanuel Macron has said the era of French interference in Africa was “well over” as he began a four-nation tour of the continent to renew frayed ties.
Anti-French sentiment has run high in some former African colonies as the continent has become a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing in the region.
Macron said France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa before an environment summit in Gabon, the first leg of his trip.
“The age of Francafrique is well over,” Macron said in remarks to the French community in the capital Libreville, referring to France’s post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests.
“Sometimes, I get the feeling that mindsets haven’t moved along as much as we have, when I read, hear and see people ascribing intentions to France that it doesn’t have,” he added.
“Francafrique” is a favourite target of pan-Africanists, who have said that after the wave of decolonisation in 1960, France propped up dictators in its former colonies in exchange for access to resources and military bases.
Macron and his predecessors, notably Francois Hollande, have previously declared that the policy is dead and that France has no intention of meddling in sovereign affairs.
Military revamp
Macron on Monday said there would be a “noticeable reduction” in France’s troop presence in Africa “in the coming months” and a greater focus on training and equipping allied countries’ forces.
France has in the past year withdrawn troops from former colonies Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic (CAR).
The pullout from Mali and Burkina Faso, where its soldiers were supporting the Sahel nations to battle a long-running armed rebellion, came on the back of a wave of local hostility.
Era of French interference in Africa is ‘over’, Macron says
