Why Is France Increasing Its Military Budget?

• 02.12.2018, 15:25
•  Europe,  World

EPA / UPG

The cabinet of France has confirmed the bill on increasing the country's defense budget by more than one-third over the next seven years. In general, France's defense spending will increase by about 300 billion.

It is noted that most of the fund will be provided for modernizing the military equipment. Additionally, it is expected to increase the number of servicemen by 6 thousand, as well as improve the military supply. French Defense Minister Florence Parly pointed out that the increase in the military budget is due to the growing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and the need to counteract terrorism.

However, the French media is more inclined to the approach that President Macron tries to get the support of US President Donald Trump.

It should be noted that this draft of the French defense budget implies that by the end of the presidency of Macron, defense spending will be 2% instead of the current 1.82% of the GDP, as required by the NATO Financial Charter.

During the NATO summit in Wales in September 2014, the member states have pledged to bring their military budget to more than 2 percent of the country's GDP over the next decade. The issue of increasing the military budget became even more urgent after Donald Trump's election as President of the United States.

Trump does not like the fact that most of the costs of NATO are covered by the United States, so he actively demands from European countries to fulfill their financial obligations towards the alliance. In this issue, Trump has the biggest disagreements with Germany, with a military budget of only 1.4% of GDP. It is noteworthy that the demand to increase the military budget is not perceived well by the European society. Perhaps it is only those European countries that view Russia as a threat that perceive this issue well.