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Defense

President Emmanuel Macron said 27 February 2023 that France's military strategy must strengthen the country as an independent, respected nuclear-armed power through the end of the decade, warning against a risk of escalation and other global effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Europe is not sheltered anymore from missile and drone strikes. And we must integrate this reality,” Macron said, speaking on the Dixmude helicopter carrier, docked in the Mediterranean military base of Toulon which is home to more than 24,000 troops.

Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine “may precede broader geopolitical rivalries and a future that we have no reason to accept with fatalism”, Macron said as he unveiled France’s “national strategic review”, meant to define how the country’s defense will look in 2030.

France wants to be an “independent, respected, agile power at the heart of the European strategic autonomy” with strong links to the Atlantic alliance, Macron said. As war is back on the European continent, France wants to focus on boosting the European Union’s defense capacity building — the bloc of 27 nations’ security is still largely dependent on the U.S. and NATO.

“When peace is back in Ukraine, we will need to assess all the consequences” via a “new security architecture” on the continent, Macron said. He insisted a “credible, modern” nuclear deterrence is key. France is the only EU country with nuclear weapons. “Our nuclear forces contribute through their own existence to the security of France and Europe,” he said.

In rare public comments on the issue, Macron had recently suggested a potential nuclear ballistic attack from Russia in the region would not bring any nuclear response from Paris. France’s doctrine “is based on what we call the fundamental interests of the nation. ... They would not at all be at stake” in such a situation, he said on French television in January 2023.

France's new strategic document provides that the country will maintain a “capacity to lead military operations, including those of high intensity, alone or within a coalition." French troops will maintain their large presence abroad in an area stretching from sub-Saharan Africa to the Middle East, through the Horn of Africa, Macron said.

He said France will launch talks in coming days with its African partners and regional organizations to make changes to the “status, format and missions of the current French military bases in the Sahel and West Africa.” A new organization, based on cooperation between French and local armed forces, will be finalized withing six months of the discussions, he said.

Ensure the sovereignty of France and
protect the French.

Europe and France face a new world where threats are more numerous and more dangerous. New actors - state or non-state, such as Daech - pose unprecedented risks to our security, both inside and outside our borders. Our country must have the means of defense and security necessary for its sovereignty and the protection of its citizens. This requires giving the national defense increased financial and human resources so that it can carry out more difficult and more numerous missions. This effort, we must carry it for ourselves. But we have to put it in the perspective of a more European defense and we expect our partners to play a full part in it. That is how we will ensure our own security and that of the continent.

DIAGNOSTIC

France remains a recognized military power on the international stage.

France is part of the restricted circle of countries with a nuclear deterrent. It is also one of the few countries able to project forces outside its borders, for example, to play a key role in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our armed forces have never been so much solicited.

France conducts numerous external operations (Levant, Sahel) and inland (Sentinel). Utilizing maximum capacity, our forces do not have enough time to rest or train, raising fears of a gradual deterioration in their safety, effectiveness and recruitment. Equally troubling, the equipment of our armies is deteriorating: some vehicles (including armored vehicles) have several decades. As for our military expenditures, in relation to the number of inhabitants, they have been stagnating for a long time, even decreasing, even as conflicts intensify and many countries re-emerge.

In an increasingly uncertain and dangerous world, Europe of defense is virtually non-existent.

Brexit, election of Donald Trump: our most important traditional allies are moving away. At the same time, the world is becoming more and more dangerous: tensions in the Middle East are exacerbated, Russia has renewed an aggressive foreign policy, as in Ukraine, and threatens Eastern Europe, while Tensions in South-East Asia are worrying.

Paradoxically, for several years, common actions in Europe have remained at the break-even point.

PROPOSALS

The challenge is threefold: we must give our armies the means to ensure our sovereignty, mobilize us for a defense Europe, and strengthen the ties between the army and the nation.

Objective 1: To give the armies the means to ensure the strategic sovereignty of France.

Our armed forces intervene all over the world to ensure the security and maintain the sovereignty of France. This security and sovereignty, they have no price, but they have a cost. We have to assume it.

• We will gradually increase the defense budget to 2% of GDP by 2025. This effort is necessary to cope with the reinforcement of the post-terrorist forces and to modernize our equipment, mobilized on several fronts.
• We will undertake the modernization of the nuclear deterrent force, which guarantees the security of France. This effort will concern its underwater and airborne components.
• We will continue to renew conventional equipment in order to preserve our autonomy, our efficiency and the safety of our soldiers. All forces are concerned: drones and satellites for intelligence, transport aircraft, maritime patrol boats, combat vehicles.
• We will maintain the ground operational force at 77,000 manpower, necessary to maintain the current level of commitment of our troops, while leaving the necessary time for training and rest.
• We will strengthen the priority for cyber defense and cyber security. As we saw in the US elections, the Internet is a new terrain of conflict and tension. So is our sovereignty.

Intelligence and investigation missions: better identify our flaws, detect hostile actions.

Missions of protection and defense: building walls, patrolling in cyberspace.

Response and neutralization missions: hinder the actions of cyber attackers, neutralize infrastructures used to cause damage to France.

Objective 2: Acting for a defense Europe that has become indispensable.

"Our borders are now external.
We must think of the European army. "
- Patrick, surgeon, Finistère - La Grande Marche

The uncertain position of the United Kingdom, the continuing American disengagement and the strengthening of Germany's role: we must prepare France for the strategic changes that are taking shape in Europe.

• We will develop (really) the Europe of defense.
• We will strengthen the coordination of our operations with our European allies with a permanent European Headquarters for the planning and monitoring of operations in connection with the NATO and NATO command centers.
• We will create a European Security Council, composed of military, diplomats and intelligence experts, to advise European decision-makers.

Objective 3: Strengthen the links between the nation and the armed forces.

In a period marked by external instability but also by the distrust of a part of the population vis-à-vis our institutions, we must strengthen the links between the army and the citizens.

• We will revitalize the operational reserve and the national guard.
• We will bring the national guard to 85,000 volunteers in 2018. It will bring together all the reservists (armed forces, gendarmerie, firemen, police, civil security). The development of the National Guard will be encouraged through the assumption of the expenses incurred, the pension bonuses for the commitment periods; And the validation of experience.
• We will create a mandatory, universal military service of one month. It will address young women and men fit for a whole age class and will have to intervene within 3 years after their eighteenth birthday. Access to the defense professions as active soldiers or in the National Guard will be facilitated. This will also make it possible, in the event of a crisis, to have a mobilizable tank complementary to the National Guard.
• We will gradually adapt Operation Sentinel, based on the assessment of the terrorist threat on the territory.