France increases defense budget despite strained public finances
The boost is in line with a new military planning law adopted over the summer.
France has announced plans to boost its defense budget for the upcoming year, despite facing increasing financial difficulties at the national level, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. The French government will unveil its 2027 budget on Thursday, which will allocate €63.4 billion towards military expenditures, an increase from the current €57 billion.
Roughly 12% of this funding will be directed towards nuclear deterrence and 43% will be used for acquiring and maintaining military equipment. These allocations align with the provisions of the military planning law approved during the summer.
The government's commitment to enhancing its military capabilities is evident in the document, which states, "To ensure our sovereignty, the government plans to strengthen our military capabilities through additional orders for major equipment (surface-to-air defense systems, anti-drone systems, and artificial intelligence)." This means that by the end of President Emmanuel Macron's second term, which began in 2017, France's defense budget will have doubled.
Notably, the defense ministry is one of the few government departments to receive a budget increase in 2027. Meanwhile, the government has set a deficit target of 5% of GDP for the next year, while freezing most other ministerial budgets at their 2026 levels.
Written by urgent.news from Politico EU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
