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France presented this Tuesday (4) the draft French Military Programming Law (LPM) for the period 2024-2030. The plan envisages increases of €3 billion to €4 billion in the Armed Forces budget per year. The “unprecedented” rise takes place against a backdrop of the return of war in Europe and high inflation.
The plan was presented to the French Council of Ministers and registers a recovery of Defense resources, after years of budget scarcity. Never has the sector had such a high budget: 413 billion euros in seven years, as President Emmanuel Macron had already announced in January.
As a result, the Armed Forces budget will be practically doubled between 2019 and 2030, an immediate consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the presence of enemy artillery ever closer to Europe.
This hefty budget will allow France to strengthen nuclear deterrence and the ability to deal with high-intensity conflict, but it will also bolster the Armed Forces in new frontiers of conflict such as cyber, seabed and space.
Among the priorities will be the modernization of long-range artillery and the beginning of the construction of a new nuclear aircraft carrier, until 2038. The State also considers it necessary to finance research programs for the planes and tanks of the future.
The French Defense budget will increase by 3.1 billion euros in 2024, growing by 3 billion euros a year between 2025 and 2027, until reaching an increase of 4.3 billion euros a year from 2028, already after the end of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term.
This budget still needs to be approved by Parliament. “It will possibly be necessary to foresee additional increases” depending on the threats, underlines the Minister of Defence, Sébastien Lecornu. He estimates that the law will be ratified by July 14.
additional expenses
Minister Sébastien Lecornu also intends to request an additional expenditure of 1.5 billion euros in 2023, in addition to the current budget of 43.9 billion euros. The supplement would serve to offset losses from inflation and “operational emergencies” such as, for example, the purchase of drones and anti-drones, one of the weaknesses of the French military system, as was clear during the war in Ukraine. The drones are also expected to be used at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The delivery of 42 Rafale fighter jets, scheduled for 2027-2030, was postponed to 2032.
“It’s a significant effort, but that doesn’t mean it’s opulence,” points out deputy Jean-Charles Larssoneur, from the right-wing Horizons party, and a member of the Defense Commission.
Among politicians on the left, however, there was criticism of the increase in the defense budget in the midst of the pension reform crisis.
(With information from RFI and AFP)