Paris (dpa -Afx) – France wants to further increase its already increased armaments output spending. The defense budget must currently be increased from 50.5 billion to 90 billion euros annually, France’s Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu told the broadcaster France Inter. The evening before, President Emmanuel Macron announced a further increase in French defense spending, without calling specific sums.
In view of the threat of Europe from Russia, additional investments would have to be made and new budget decisions would be made, Macron said in a television address. “I asked the government to work on it as soon as possible.” It is about new investments that required the mobilization of private, but also public funds without increasing taxes. “This requires reforms, decisions and courage.”
Money for frigates, fighter jets and electronic warfare
France must accelerate the defense, “not by going in all directions, but by trying to do something that is very effective in the military field,” said Defense Minister Lecornu. “Our navy are missing at least three frigates, our Air Force are missing about 20 Rafale-Kampfjets” and the army must have sufficient guns that are able to blows deep into opposing terrain. Investments in electronic warfare and militarization of space are also necessary.
A good two years ago, Macron initiated a drastic increase in France’s military spending to 400 billion euros for the period 2024 to 2030. The increases since 2019 meant doubling France’s military budget within ten years ./evs/dp/jha