Military programming bill: associations, including the League of Human Rights, denounce the creation of a state of national security alert

Deputies on Monday began examining a law updating the military programming voted in 2023. This new text sets out by 2030 the major guidelines and means of the French armed forces.

Several associations and unions, including the Ligue des droits de l’homme, France Nature environnement, the Syndicat de la magistrature, and the CGT, denounced in a tribune published on Sunday, May 3, the establishment, in the draft military programming law, of a “state of national security alert“. “What worries us is that it is actually a state of emergency that doesn’t say its name and could be triggered by the government based on absolutely vague and unclear criteria,” denounced Nathalie Tehio, president of the Ligue des droits de l’homme, on France Inter on Monday.

By triggering this “state of national security alert“, there are “possibilities to derogate the labor laws, environmental laws, and heritage laws,” she worries. “That’s why” environmental associations and unions, including the CGT, FSU, and Solidaires, signed this tribune, she said.

“We can already see that when it comes to the military budget, there is no real deliberation, no transparency,” criticized Nathalie Tehio. “And that is a democratic denial. Already, because we are talking about constrained budget choices and we will touch social benefits” by saying that it will be necessary to “decrease” these benefits for budget reasons. “Is that the right answer? Is that the right choice?,” questions the president of the Ligue des droits de l’homme. Overall, we are “in logics where there is no transparency.” According to her, “there should be many more safeguards. That’s what democracy is about.”