France to hike defence spending by over 40 percent

[Vergennes]

© Christophe Archambault / AFP | Members of the 5e Regiment de Cuirassiers parade during the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris on July 14, 2017.

France on Wednesday announced plans to boost defence spending by more than 40 percent, bringing it into line with NATO targets after complaints from US President Donald Trump that Europe is not pulling its weight.

European NATO members have come under pressure from Trump to relieve the burden on the US, which currently accounts for about 70 percent of combined NATO defence spending.

The French government unveiled a bill that increases spending on the armed forces from 34.2 billion euros ($42 billion) in 2018 to 50 billion euros in 2025, taking the defence budget from 1.82 percent of GDP currently to a NATO target of two percent.

Nuclear-armed France and Britain are the biggest military powers in the European Union.

The French spending hike under new centrist President Emmanuel Macron marks a shift after years of belt-tightening in defence, which caused tension in the ranks.

Last year, the head of the armed forces resigned after a row with Macron over cuts to defence expenditure in an interim budget for 2017 agreed after his election victory in May.

Macron is France's first commander-in-chief to have never served in the military, having come of age after compulsory military service was scrapped in 1997.

But he has repeatedly stressed his commitment to the armed forces, which are battling jihadists in West Africa and in the Middle East and are mobilised on the streets of France due to the domestic terror threat.

"Previous planning laws put the burden on the military. This time, we're asking for the country to take the burden for the military," a source close to Defence Minister Florence Parly said.

The defence ministry plans to raise its spending by 1.7 billion euros a year between 2019 and 2022, increasing to 3 billion a year between 2023 and 2025.

Deficit problem

A chunk of the funds will be spent on replacing ageing armoured personnel carriers, adding more refuelling aircraft and ships and upgrading France's nuclear arsenal.

The bill also sets aside more money for the troops, in the form of better training, improved accommodation for military families and new equipment, including new bullet-proof vests and night-vision goggles.

The increase in funding will have to be balanced against commitments by Macron to tackle French overspending, which has seen the country repeatedly break European rules on deficits.

France's public finance watchdog urged Macron to go further in reducing the country's debt which is among the highest in Europe.

The budget deficit is forecast by the economy ministry to dip to 2.8 percent of GDP in 2018, while the public debt is estimated at 2.2 trillion euros, the equivalent of 96.8 percent of GDP.

The French armed forces are in action on multiple fronts.

They have been taking part in strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq and around 4,000 troops are hunting Islamist extremists in west and central Africa.

Meanwhile, at home, 7,000 soldiers are deployed to patrol the streets after a series of terror attacks since 2015 that have claimed over 240 lives.

Source France24

 

[Vergennes]

France has unveiled plans to boost defence spending by more than a third between 2017 and 2025 in an “unprecedented effort” to meet Nato commitments and modernise its army and nuclear deterrent.

Presenting the multi-year military spending plan, the defence ministry said it would pump €295 billion (£260bn) into bolstering its armed forces between 2019 and 2025, after already raising the budget by 1.8 per cent to €34.3bn this year.

The annual increase is forecast to remain at 1.7 per cent between 2019 and 2022 to reach €44 billion that year, before jumping by three per cent in 2023 - conveniently, detractors will say, the year after President Emmanuel Macron's five-year term ends.

The aim is to meet France’s commitment to spend two per cent of gross domestic product on defence. "I want a strong France, in charge of its own destiny, protective of its citizens and its interests," Mr Macron said last month in a new year's address to the military.

"For that, we need a full defence capability, a modern, powerful force that is responsive and looks to the future," he said, calling the spending rise an "unprecedented budgetary effort".


European Nato members have come under pressure from President Donald Trump to shoulder more defence costs to relieve the burden on the United States, which currently accounts for about 70 per cent of combined Nato defence spending.


The spending increase will place France roughly on a par with the UK, which has already met, and in recent cases surpassed, its two per cent spending pledge.

The boost, which French daily Le Monde called “colossal”, comes six months after then chief of the defence staff, General Pierre de Villiers, resigned in a dispute with Mr Macron over cuts.

Gen De Villiers, a highly respected figure, complained to parliament that the army was being "screwed", drawing a public rebuke from the French president, which prompted the general to resign.

His complaint followed a drop in spending last year of €850 million, a temporary fall the government said was necessary for France to meet its EU budget deficit target of three per cent of GDP.

After cutting 60,000 posts between 2005 and 2015, the defence ministry said it will create 6,000 new ones by 2025, half of these by 2023, with an emphasis on cyber security and intelligence.

France, which has thousands of troops overseas, will boost spending on equipment, from bullet-proof vests to combat uniforms as well as maintenance and infrastructure.

There will be a 34 per cent rise in spending on "modernising weaponry" including new Scorpion armoured vehicles, four Barracuda attack submarines and three multi-mission frigates, as well as a new fleet of Griffon multi-role armoured vehicles. The plan also provides new spy satellites, light surveillance planes, Rafale fighter jets and armed drones, as well as new refuelling planes.


France's nuclear deterrent will receive €37 billion by 2025, with work started on a third generation nuclear submarine programme and new airborne nuclear missiles.

French army bases will be "strengthened" around the world with the aim of training 30,000 local military personnel per year, up from the current 20,000.

Finally, some €17 billion will be earmarked for innovation to maintain "future operational superiority", including research into a successor to the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, which will retire by 2040.

While the spending rise will be cheered at Nato headquarters and Washington, Gen de Villiers intimated that the final phase of the plan after 2023 may never materialise, as it depends on France meeting its growth forecasts.

“We are on a trajectory of €1.7 billion (per year) until 2022 and then a slope of €3 billion (per year) from 2023. Naturally, we have experience in the matter, one needs to remain vigilant,” he told France 3.

It is unclear whether France’s spending rise will be echoed by other EU partners, notably Germany whose new coalition government made no explicit commitments on meeting the NATO-agreed target this week.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ing-unprecedented-move-meet-nato-commitments/

 

[UKBengali]

This does not take into account inflation.

Still going from 1.82% to 2% of GDP by 2025 is a good increase in defence spending.

 

[Vergennes]

This does not take into account inflation.

Still going from 1.82% to 2% of GDP by 2025 is a good increase in defence spending.

Actually that is a very ambitious plan. (Too ambitious?)
The 1,82% figure takes into account the pensions. In reality,the real defence budget,is around 1,4% to 1,5% of the GDP.

Taking into account the pensions,the 2% figure should be reached in 2022. The 2% figure for 2025 is without the pensions. According to current projections,that would represent an increase from €34,2 billion in 2018 to €50 billion in 2025. The army is assured to get an additional €1,7 billion each years til 2021,when the military programming law (and ressources) will be reviewed.

 

[Incog_nito]

Paris, wants to become the next London, by inviting all new businesses and startups. Moreover, It's good to see France gaining edge in EU.