New Delhi: Delivering his annual address to the French armed forces on the eve of Bastille Day, French president Emmanuel Macron warned that France and Europe can no longer rely on old alliances, notably with the US under President Donald Trump, and must instead take responsibility for its own defense.
In response, Macron announced France’s military budget will rise significantly, reaching $74.8 billion by 2027 which is nearly double the $37.64 billion spent in 2017 when he first took office.
Over the next two years alone, defense spending will increase by $7.6 billion. This comes as France, grappling with budgetary pressures, positions itself as the European Union’s leading military power, and its only nuclear-armed nation.
“You have to be feared in this world,” Macron declared Sunday, as he announced a sharp increase in France’s military spending. “And to be feared, you have to be strong.”
“Our freedom has never been so threatened. There are no more rules; it’s the law of the strongest that wins.”
Citing mounting threats from Russia, growing global instability, and an erosion of diplomatic norms, he said Europe must now “assure our security ourselves.”
Macron’s speech also revealed growing frustration with the US, particularly under Trump. He criticised America’s “disengagement” from global security and expressed disappointment over Trump’s foreign policy, including threats to impose a 30 percent tariff on EU goods and efforts to derail a now-postponed UN conference on Palestinian statehood which is a key French diplomatic initiative.
“While our American ally is showing a desire to disengage or, as an ally, is creating new uncertainties for us, do we want to once and for all take our security and that of the continent into our own hands and build a true European pillar of NATO?
“Are we capable of providing an outlet for this tremendous desire for commitment and achievement that drives our youth? Are we capable, above all, of resisting high-intensity conflicts on European soil in the next three to four years?” he asked.
“To all these questions, we will answer yes.”
The spending surge is driven largely by a perceived escalation in global threats, especially from Russia. France’s top general Thierry Burkhard recently described Moscow as viewing France as its “main adversary in Europe”, the president said. “The continued existence of a Russian threat on Europe’s borders, from the Caucasus to the Arctic. A prepared, organised, and sustainable threat that we must be able to confront. Our European future is determined by this and the need to organize ourselves to respond to this threat and deter it in order to maintain peace.”
Macron echoed that urgency, referring to the “return to the unthinkable,” such as the bombardment of Iran, a proliferation of nuclear threats, and ongoing conflicts including the war in Ukraine.
French lawmakers must still approve the proposed military budget increases before they can take effect. The National Assembly has already been caught in months of contentious debate over the broader 2025 national budget and necessary cost-cutting measures—tensions that contributed to the collapse of the previous government late last year.
France is under growing pressure to reduce its budget deficit, which reached 5.8 percent of GDP in 2024, alongside a public debt burden amounting to 113 percent of GDP.
President Macron indicated that Prime Minister François Bayrou would present further details on the financial plans during his address on Tuesday, when he is expected to provide an update on the 2026 budget.
The government is aiming to bring the deficit down to 5.4 percent in 2025 and further to 4.6 percent by 2026. Achieving this goal will require significant savings, estimated at $46 billion in 2025 alone.
(Edited by Tony Rai)