Laura Kayali
The collapse of the French government is undermining the country’s defense plans as the military budget won’t increase until the political crisis is resolved.
On Wednesday, the Council of Ministers adopted a so-called special law that allows France to continue the 2024 budget into 2025 — a tool designed to avoid a U.S.-style government shutdown. The text will go through parliament but lawmakers cannot amend it.
That means a €3.3 billion defense spending boost that was part of a seven-year military planning law is off the cards for now. It also imposes a freeze of sorts on the armed forces ministry, which will not be able to hire new people or launch new programs until a proper 2025 budget is approved by parliament.
“The military is worried, and that’s normal, everyone is in a bit of a wait-and-see mode,” Hélène Conway-Mouret, a Socialist senator who co-drafted a report on France’s 2025 defense budget, told POLITICO.
“We need to make sure the political consensus that emerged in 2024 to increase defense spending continues,” she said, adding that “even with the €3.3 billion boost, the seven-year military planning law is not ambitious enough.”
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