France announces an extra €6.5 bn in military spending • FRANCE 24 English

France announces an extra €6.5 bn in military spending • FRANCE 24 English

On July 14th, 1789, angry Parisians stormed the Basti prison, marking the start of the French Revolution. Basti Day, as it’s now known, is France’s national holiday. Thousands of people turned out already this morning on the Shanza in Paris to see the traditional military parade. This bestie day is shining a light on multilateral partnerships featuring troops from a French Finnish contingent from the UNIF peacekeeping force in Lebanon as well as other troops from Belgium, Luxembourg and Indonesia. France 24’s Clar Palan has been covering the parade in Paris this morning. She told us more. Another Bastile Day parade is over here on the Shanzil in Paris. You can see the crowds behind me. They’re beginning to disperse now. They’re about to head home. They came, of course, to see the French President Emanuel Macon as he inspected the troops. They came, of course, to see the aircraft whizzing through the skies above our heads. They came, the crowds came to see the French troops as they marched down the avenue. Many members of the crowd will have had family members marching today. So they came to see their loved ones. And of course the crowds came as well to see the armored vehicles and the tanks as they drove down the shed. And at the very end, the Republican Guard on horseback. This parade focused partly on the Indonesian troops. They were opening the parade. They were the troops of honor. that of course is marking the strategic partnership between France and Indonesia particularly in the Indo Pacific. We also saw Finnish troops among the troops marching alongside French troops that was marking the work that Finnish and French troops are doing together right now as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon as part of UNIFIL and those Finnish troops I was spoken speaking to them earlier. They’re actually about to head back to the ground in Lebanon. So another bastial day parade over here on the Shanza le ending with a ceremony to mark the blueid of France the equivalent to the poppy the blue cornflour which is used here in France as a symbol of remembrance it’s been a hundred years since the blueid of France existed and the organization continues to give support to wounded French soldiers and so the end the finale of this celebration is the blueid of hos remembering those who sacrificed for France and of looking forward to the future. A focus of this parade also on young people. Lots of young troops and cadetses were also marching down the Shaniz today here in Paris. Well, we’re going to talk a lot more about the military parade with Dominique Franon who joins me now on the set. You’re the former head of the French military mission to the UN. Thank you so much, Dominique, for coming in to talk to us. What did you make of the military parade today? I’m in the military parade with a mixture of new equipment, the new army which is prep preparing for war. Uh the southern brigade which is ready to fully ready to go to Romania currently under NATO and a mixture of international also we have Indonesia. Uh the president of Indonesia is a great friend of France and there was this parade of the special music uh but also Finland because in Lebanon I commended the battalion in Lebanon. We have a mix battalion from Finland and from the French. So it was a mixture and also of course Belgium and Luxembourg who are equipped with the French equipment in the army and that’s why they were there on the parade too. It’s true it was a very international parade particularly with Indonesia as the guest of honor and yet there had been some criticism of inviting the Indonesian president as a guest of honor due to human rights concerns. Do you think that’s something that that President Mcron would be thinking about when he’s inviting a country like this to participate in this kind of I mean I know very well the president of Indonesia he was commanding the special forces in Indonesia then he was defense minister and then president and when he was commanding the special forces apparently there were accusation about torture done by the special forces so that’s not him personally who is persecuted for that and apparently the US put them on the blacklist and that’s why some country are avoiding to meet him but there is no uh tribunal or judgment against him another big emphasis of this parade was youth involvement in the French army how big an issue is youth involvement do more young people need to get involved in the military for it to survive yes but that’s not only France that’s all European country who are facing now a threat on the east with Russia. And after 20 years of disarmament, now we’ve got to rearm. And rearm needs not only weapon system, money, but of course people to join the army. Currently, the French army have no big problem recruiting, but in 2030 because of the the demographic uh trend, we will need to recruit more soldier. And this is an issue, but as I said, it’s an issue for all European countries. Dominique, you mentioned this threat of Russia that just last night, President Macron mentioned um ahead of this military parade, and Macron made a speech where he said he was going to boost French military spending by 6.5 billion euros in the next two years, three years ahead of schedule. Why the need for this boost? And is it realistic? I I go two trends. It is necessary. It is realistic. It’s another problem. It is necessary because we need to increase drastically our our army, our weapon system and and for that we need to accelerate. That’s why he choose to put that on 2027 which he is the end of his presidency. So we just taking uh the figures for the end of his presidency. It is realistic. It is more problematic. As you know the prime minister tomorrow will present what will be the tendency for the next budget and I think it is not uh it was done on purpose yesterday because the prime minister was behind the president and the president was saying look we’ve got to increase our budget for defense but we don’t have to increase our deficit so that’s up to you now to solve the problem. And uh President Mccron also said France’s freedom has not been threatened this seriously since 1945. We mentioned this threat from from Russia earlier. How serious are these threats across France? Would you say they are very serious because Mr. Putin put them in front? I mean uh Mr. Putin is saying that we are the enemy and in the NATO summit uh a few weeks ago uh in the conclusion it is written that Russia is our enemy for the long term. So we are back in the 90s uh where I was the young officer facing east Soviet Union. It’s no longer Soviet Union. They are 2,000 kilometer eastern but the Russia is really building an army which could be used and could be very dangerous. So that’s why there is a threat. Currently the threat in France is mainly about information and cyber and we’ve got to fight against that today. But we need to prepare for tomorrow. If we are strong we will deter Russia. If we are weak, then Russia can take what they want. All right, Dominique Clanklin, thank you so much for coming in to speak to us. You’re the former head of the French military mission to the UN. Thank you so much and happy best day to you.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) 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. Analysis by General Dominique Trinquand, former head of the French Military Mission to the UN.
#France #military #budget

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X: https://f24.my/Xen
Bluesky: https://f24.my/BSen and Threads: https://f24.my/THen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen