Paris is looking to increase its military budget and shift to a \u201cwar economy\u201d to address a supposed threat from Moscow, according to media reports<\/p>\n
France\u2019s top military commander has told the country\u2019s parliament that the prospect of a direct conflict with Russia is his \u201cprimary concern,\u201d insisting on ramping up military spending as Paris reportedly prepares to shift to a \u201cwar economy.\u201d
\nGeneral Fabien Mandon, the chief of staff of the French Armed Forces, made the statement during a hearing before the National Assembly\u2019s Defense Committee about a proposed update to the 2024-2030 military programming and budget.
\n\u201cAn open war with Russia remains my primary concern in terms of preparing the armed forces,\u201d he told lawmakers, pointing to what he called \u201cthe continued presence of a Russian threat on our continent.\u201d
\nMandon, who had previously warned of a potential \u201cclash in three or four years\u201d with Moscow, insisted that France is in a \u201cdangerous period\u201d and desperately needs more investment in the military.
\nThe general\u2019s remarks come as the French government has announced a revised long-term military budget that would see it spend an additional \u20ac36 billion ($42 billion) on weapons, pushing annual spending to \u20ac76.3 billion by 2030, or 2.5% of GDP.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
German \u2018militaristic frenzy\u2019 could end in tragedy \u2013 Moscow<\/p>\n
France seeks to grow its arsenal of explosive drones by 400%, the number of guided bombs by 240%, and the number of Scalp cruise missiles by 85% by 2030, according to a 64-page-long document seen by Politico.
\nThe shift is being carried out \u201cwith a view to preparing for a \u2018war economy\u2019,\u201d the document read.\u00a0
\nFrance\u2019s rearmament push comes amid a wider European militarization trend as Germany is also undergoing a massive buildup, with Berlin planning to spend more than \u20ac500 billion on defense by 2029 and aiming to increase its active troops from 180,000 to over 260,000 by 2035.\u00a0
\nMoscow has consistently dismissed Western allegations of an imminent Russian attack as \u201cnonsense,\u201d arguing that such claims are used to justify record military spending, distract from domestic problems, and whip up anti-Russian hysteria. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated in February that Moscow \u201chas no intention of attacking any part of Europe\u201d and has \u201cabsolutely no reason to do so.\u201d He warned, however, that if European nations launch an attack on Russia, \u201cthere will be a full-scale military response with all available military means.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paris is looking to increase its military budget and shift to a \u201cwar economy\u201d to address a supposed threat from Moscow, according to media reports France\u2019s top military commander has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t