France’s national holiday, known as Bastille Day, takes place Monday with a traditional July 14 military parade and fireworks in the evening. French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced €6.5 billion in extra military spending in the next two years, saying freedom in Europe was facing a greater threat than at any time since the end of World War II. Watch the annual parade live on FRANCE 24.
″Since 1945, freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,” Macron said in the French president’s traditional speech to the military on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday.
Macron called for €6.5 billion euros in extra military spending in the next two years because of new and unprecedented threats ranging from Russia to nuclear proliferation, terrorists and online attacks. That would be double the 32 billion euros in annual spending when he became president in 2017.
Read moreFrance’s Macron calls for major hike in defence spending: ‘To be free, we must be feared’
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(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
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