Macron: 'Europe never in such danger since 1945'. Doubling of the defence budget from today to 2027
The French President: 'We will consecrate 64 billion euros for our defence, a historic effort but not making debt'
3' min read
3' min read
"Never since 1945 had our freedom been threatened to this extent. As then, peace depends on our decisions. We return to those years when peace is built': Emmanuel Macron's face, in his traditional address to the Armed Forces on the eve of the National Day on 14 July, is particularly dark.
In front of him, the government, the Armed Forces General Staff, to whom the president illustrates the 'moment of transition' we are experiencing. A moment that forces us, he emphasises, to 'defend ourselves'. That is why, he explains, 'the defence budget will double between now and 2027' and 'an effort of 3.5 billion in 2026 and a further 3 billion the following year will be added to the military planning law'.
In all, "64 billion euros, double the budget the armed forces had in 2017". "Freedom violated, the rules of war not respected, hopes for peace crushed," Macron continued, "and when there are no more rules, the law of the strongest wins.
'We will succeed', he repeats several times during the most serious speech in his 10 years in office, but the efforts 'must continue': because 'with the invasion of Ukraine, war has come to our territory'.
"We must be clear," Macron emphasised, "we Europeans must now guarantee ourselves our security, the freedom of our political and democratic model by defending it from obscurantist forces, the freedom of the nation, in the face of all these risks that weigh on our freedom". He does not forget, in his list of 'serious and permanent dangers', 'Islamist terrorism: ten years have passed since the Paris attacks, but the risk is still present'.
