William Molinié, edited by Loane Nader
modified to
06:52, March 16, 2023
In parallel with the pension reform, the executive is preparing for the management of other major files of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term. Among them is the military programming law for the period 2024-2030, which requires determining the strategic budget of our armies, and poses a problem within the government itself.
After the thorny pension reform, the government is preparing to open a new sensitive file, that of the strategic budget to be adopted for the armies of the country, within the framework of the military programming law for the period 2024-2030. And in a context of war in Ukraine, discord may appear within the executive itself. For example, the Ministry of the Economy was reluctant to pass the 380 billion euro mark, before Emmanuel Macron intervened.
Thus, there will be 413 billion euros on the table for the military, which will benefit from a budget up 40% compared to the last period. Except that the question of the “height of the steps”, that is to say the successive increases from year to year, does not fail to be debated. Matignon wants the budgetary effort to be increased after 2027, in other words for the next five-year term.
Elisabeth Borne “not very sensitive” to sovereignty issues
For their part, the armies want high levels from the first years. “We know well the weight of inertia to launch the programs”, we justify in the entourage of the Minister of Defense. At the same time, the Minister of the Armed Forces of France, Sébastien Lecornu, then comes up against the rigidity of a Prime Minister presented as “not very sensitive” to the issues of sovereignty, according to a deputy experienced in military affairs. “It’s not his thing. Culturally, it does not speak to him”, regrets this parliamentarian.
This is why, at Matignon, we cut short any form of enmity, “It is the president who makes the arbitrations, the Prime Minister is systematically consulted just like the Minister of Defense”, defends a close friend of Elisabeth Thick headed. A disagreement which, marked by back and forth within the government, delays the presentation of the text to the Assembly. The executive still displays the common objective of voting for it at the beginning of the summer, around the speech of Emmanuel Macron, a symbol on the eve of July 14.