France Boosts Military Budget by €6.5 Billion Over Two Years
The French leader unveiled ambitious spending plans in a powerful speech urging a stronger commitment to safeguarding Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday an additional 6.5 billion euros in military spending over the next two years, citing new and unprecedented threats ranging from Russia to terrorism and online attacks.
The French leader outlined the spending plans in a comprehensive speech urging enhanced efforts to safeguard Europe. He stated that France plans to allocate 64 billion euros for annual defence spending by 2027, the final year of his second term; this would represent a doubling of the 32 billion in annual spending at the start of his presidency in 2017. “Since 1945, freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,” Macron said in the French president’s traditional speech to the military on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday. “To be free in this world we must be feared and to be feared we must be powerful,” he said.
“From war in Europe to new nuclear risks and daily cyber attacks, the threats we face are multiplying,” Starmer stated. UK and France reach ‘one in, one out’ migrant agreement to reduce sea crossings. He asserted that France can secure funding to increase military spending while simultaneously addressing its substantial debts.
Europe faces peril due to Russia’s war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East, as “the United States have added a form of uncertainty,” Macron stated. He also pointed to online disinformation campaigns by unnamed foreign governments and propaganda operations aimed at children, in “the screen era.” Macron has instructed France’s leading military and defense officials to initiate a “strategic dialogue” with European partners regarding the potential role of France’s nuclear arsenal in safeguarding Europe. France and Britain have recently reached an agreement to collaborate on matters concerning their nuclear arsenals.
