Paris – French President Emmanuel Macron told the troops and military brass before the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14 that France will raise its defense spending hikes in 2027 to reach 64 billion euros ($75 billion) in 2027.
France needs to step up its efforts in the face of the biggest threat to freedom since 1945. Macron said Europe must be prepared to face the permanent Russian threat on the border from the Caucasus to the Arctic.
“All Europe, countries are rising, and France cannot put its European allies on the front line in the face of short-term threats,” Macron said.
The French president said France will increase the 2026 defense budget by 3.5 billion euros on the basis of planned increase, while the 2027 budget will increase by 3 billion euros. As a result, the country will double its defense budget from Macron before taking office in 2017, which plans to reach that level by the end of the current Military Planning Act of 2024-2030.
NATO members agree to increase plans Raise core defense spending At a meeting in The Hague, Netherlands in June, GDP was 3.5%. Many allies, including GermanySweden and Norway have announced plans to achieve their goals in the next five years in recent weeks, and France has not yet said whether and when to reach their spending targets.
Macron announced an additional €6.5 billion spending at the end of 2027, with an additional €6.5 billion spending less than 0.2% of the additional GDP at the end of 2027, and while “certainly considerable”, written from the 2025 international consultant of the Ministry of Defense Francois Heisbourg and senior European consultant at the Institute of International Strategics, 2.3% of GDP in 2025. Social Media Posts On Sunday.
“The 3.5% target is still a long way to go, and Germany plans to reach it in 2029,” Hesburg said.
Macron says France – Most Indebtsed country In the EU – more borrowing must not be relied on to pay more defense expenses. Prime Minister Francois Bayrou will explain how to fund the defense budget on Tuesday and pay for spending “increasing activity and more production.”
Macron said France’s efforts will make the country credible relative to its partners. He said France and Germany will meet at the end of August, with the Common Defense and Security Committee, which “will take new decisions” and that joint investment and strengthening cooperation will allow the establishment of the NATO European pillar of the French call for.
Macron said the world is emerging with artificial intelligence and drones, the return of electronic warfare, and the transition to new areas of conflict (such as space, cyberspace and seabed) and to quantum technology.
Macron said the world also saw the return of nuclear proliferation and major conflicts, “Ultimately, let’s be clear that to be free in this world, you have to feel fear.” “Be afraid, you have to become powerful.”
This means France must be stronger, “because this is the country that the country must defend,” the president said. The war in Ukraine shows: “We need courage, and stocks and proper defense industries. We need a country that can stick to and mobilize.”
Macron said France needs to address areas of weakness, first of all, its ammunition inventory, including loafers, saturated weapons and precision weapons. He said French combat organizations, frigates and air bases must be equipped with more drones.
Other areas to be strengthened include air defense and electronic front functions and space capabilities, the president said.
Macron said that although France has a “solid army”, the country needs to “harden the model and get quality”. “These are areas of effort that have been identified and will be priority areas for additional efforts made under the current military programming law.”
Macron said the work will also require defense companies to produce more, faster and lower costs. He said the French Arms General Administration will monitor this and prioritize new capabilities and production on French territory.
According to Macron, France has world-class capabilities to “become a European solution” including SAMP/TNG air defense systems, missiles, rafale aircraft, constellations of low-orbit satellites, as well as AI companies, radar and anti-UAV systems.
“We have often already worked with several other major European major manufacturers or produced them through groups that already have European footprints and equity structures,” Macron said. “So let’s buy Europe in large quantities.”
Macron said the development of European Defense Ministry strengthened rather than got rid of France’s sovereignty, calling for “regular criticism from French nationalists and populist legislators who lashed out at pan-European defense cooperation.”
Macron told Europe’s security that although France’s nuclear deterrence was “complete, and always monarch” played a role in Europe’s security, Macron told Europe’s security and sent Europe’s security. The president said he asked the chief of staff of the armed forces minister Sebastien Lecornu and General Thierry Burkhard to have a dialogue with European partners who were preparing to do so to “full assessment of our deterrent role in collective security”.
Macron also said France, as the EU’s only nuclear power, has a “significant responsibility” to ensure that the traditional re-shackles are “effective, credible and consistent”.
