Benjamin Peter with AFP
modified to
7:38 p.m., January 20, 2023
The French armies will benefit from a budget of 400 billion euros over the period 2024-2030, within the framework of the future military programming law (LPM), i.e. a third more than the envelope of the previous LPM, has President Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday.
“The LPM reflects the efforts of the country in favor of its armies” and “these efforts will be proportionate to the dangers, that is to say considerable”, he declared during his wishes to the armies on the air base of Mont-de-Marsan (Landes), adding that “after having repaired the armies, we are going to transform them”.
Financial effort
“I will ask the national representation so that we can devote over the period 2024-2030 a budgetary effort of 400 billion euros, which will make it possible to cover a total of 413 billion euros of military needs in order to thus renew this precious military tool that serves our freedom, our security, our prosperity and our place in the world”, explained the Head of State.
The LPM will indeed ultimately amount to 413 billion euros, or 400 billion budget voted in Parliament plus 13 billion in extra-budgetary revenue (infrastructure, frequency sales, etc.), said an Elysian source.
This law will continue the financial effort in defense after a 2019-2025 LPM of 295 billion euros, which had put an end to years of budget cuts in the armies. It is eagerly awaited, while the war in Ukraine has highlighted weaknesses in the French military system.
An irreversible change
“In total, these two military programming laws will therefore have led to a doubling of the budgets of our armies”, underlined the President of the Republic, noting that “these are considerable means which amplify a defense effort whose dynamics are unprecedented for five decades”, but also that “these exceptional resources obviously dictate a great requirement”.
The Head of State indicated that these 413 billion begin “a profound change which will then be irreversible”. “We must not do the same with more, we must do better and differently,” he insisted.
The budget allocated to military intelligence will notably increase by almost 60% over the 2024-2030 period, the budget of the Military Intelligence Directorate (DRM) and the Defense Intelligence and Security Directorate (DRSD) will be doubled with the aim of “having a war in advance”, also announced Emmanuel Macron. The LPM, whose new massive budget envelope will however be tempered by inflation and the explosion of energy costs, should be submitted to Parliament for a vote by the summer.