The Assembly has just adopted the flagship article of the bill, which increases military spending to 436 billion euros by the end of the decade, an additional 36 billion euros compared to the last programming law of 2023. This amount is supplemented by nearly 13.3 billion in additional resources, including real estate income or revenues from the military health service.
A recalibrated budget trajectory
To justify this new trajectory just three years later, the executive notably cites the experience of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, emphasizing the importance of missile and shell stocks, as well as the predominant role of drones. Therefore, the new roadmap includes, for example, an additional 8.5 billion for ammunition, totaling 26 billion over the entire period, or an extra two billion for drones, reaching 8.4 billion over the period.
If the text is adopted, it would lead to a gradual increase in the annual military budget to 76.3 billion euros in 2030, representing 2.5% of GDP. However, the path must still be approved each year in the state budget, and theoretically, Parliament can deviate from it. Additionally, the 2027 presidential election could reshuffle the deck, even in terms of investment priorities.
Security measures and parliamentary schedule
On Monday, deputies will still vote on several measures contained in the text, beyond the budgetary effort. The article promising the most debate concerns the establishment of a new “state of national security alert”. At the discretion of the executive, this would allow derogating from several rules, whether related to construction, expropriation, or the environment, in cases of a “serious threat” to the nation. However, a portion of the left is concerned about the potential consequences of this new regime of exception.
