France’s parliament on Thursday approved a multi-billion-euro boost to military spending through the rest of this decade, spurred by war in Ukraine and fast-growing global threats, APA reports citing Associated Press.
President Emmanuel Macron pushed for the bigger budget, which would spend 413 billion euros ($450 billion), the most significant spending hike in half a century. The money would modernize France’s nuclear arsenal, augment intelligence spending and develop more remote-controlled weapons.
He has argued the boost was needed to ensure “our freedom, our security, our prosperity, our place in the world.” The defense minister has compared it to France’s push in the 1960s to develop nuclear weapons, making the country one of the world’s bigger military powers.
The new military plan includes doubling the number of military reservists and reinforcing cyberdefense, as well as increasing weapons production capacity both to help Ukraine and to keep the French military adequately supplied.
The new budget for the 2024-2030 period is more than a third higher than the last military spending plan of 295 billion euros for 2019-2025.
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