The budgetary effort granted is substantial, even if it risks being reduced by inflation and the explosion of energy costs. Emmanuel Macron unveiled, Friday, January 20, the main orientations of the future military programming law (LPM) 2024-2030, while the war in Ukraine has highlighted weaknesses in the French military system.
From the air base of Mont-de-Marsan (Landes), the President of the Republic notably announced “a budgetary effort of 400 billion euros, which will cover a total of 413 billion euros in military needs” in the next seven years.
The next military programming law, which will be presented to Parliament in March, therefore promises to 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 armies.
Increase in military intelligence budget
Those “Efforts will be proportionate to the dangers, that is to say considerable. […] We must have a war in advance”said Emmanuel Macron, marking the end of the “peace dividend” faced with the emergence of “new conflicts” that threaten all over the world.
The budget allocated to military intelligence will thus increase by nearly 60% over the 2024-2030 period, the Head of State also announced, citing doubling of the budget of the Military Intelligence Directorate (DRM) and the Intelligence and defense security (DRSD).
“We are moving from a logic of repair to a logic of transformation of armies. We must be able to be more efficient and effective”, underlined the Elysée before these announcements, while the war in Ukraine pushed the most reluctant Europeans to devote more money to their defense. Germany released 100 billion euros last year to modernize its armies.