"There is nothing too much," considers Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces. From Monday, MPs are debating the significant increase in the budget of the armed forces, opposition and presidential camp counting on parliamentary scrutiny to attack or defend the figures promised by the executive, and mark their differences of military doctrines.

With 413 billion over seven years (2024-2030), the envelope put on the table by the government for this new military programming law (LPM) is significantly higher than that adopted under the previous five-year period (295 billion for 2019-2025). Sébastien Lecornu will defend this Monday 16h and for two weeks, the copy of the executive.

From nuclear deterrence to seabed control

The stated objective is to modernize the army, including its nuclear deterrent, to improve the treatment of troops, to renew equipment but also to invest in cyber, space and control of the seabed. Thirty billion euros must also be used to cover inflation.

The oppositions intend, them, to point to "announcement effects". For Anna Pic (PS), this LPM is more a "continuity" than a historic effort, and "100 billion" euros already stem from the previous one. The socialists also intend to demonstrate that the objective of 2% of GDP devoted to defence, a commitment of France as a member of NATO, will not be achieved.

Budgetary efforts planned especially after the five-year term?

In committee, Sébastien Lecornu relativized this objective, but also said that it was planned to achieve it before "the end of the five-year term" in 2027, while the initial text provided for a deadline in 2025.

The oppositions also point to uncertainty around 13.3 billion euros, which must be financed by extrabudgetary resources, despite the minister's insistence that they were not threatened.

But their grievance lies in the fact that the greatest budgetary efforts are planned after the end of the five-year period. Several amendments from all sides will propose to impose more efforts by 2027.

Anne Genetet (Renaissance), who is to lead the group's troops in the hemicycle, considers this debate "legitimate", but invokes a principle of budgetary and industrial "reality".

"The effort is now," insists the president of the LR group Olivier Marleix. Right-wing MPs will be prime targets of the executive for the text to be adopted, even if it also hopes to convince socialists.

Fast-track procedure to be ready before 14 July

The government also has the accelerated procedure on this text (a reading before the Assembly and the Senate) with the aim of having the text definitively adopted before 14th July.

Much of the first week of debate is expected to shatter doctrinal differences. The overwhelming majority of the approximately 1,700 amendments have been tabled on the article, which refers to an annexed report, a kind of military roadmap for the France, both in its doctrine and in the equipment of its armies.

The government must table amendments in plenary to replace equipment sent to Ukraine. But the LPM will lead to a delay in deliveries of several major equipment (Scorpion armored vehicles, Rafale aircraft, defense and intervention frigates ...), which worries the opposition.

A debate will punctuate the examination, that of the "mass" against the "coherence": should the army equip itself with a maximum of equipment, or direct its investments so that those it has are usable (maintenance, training ...)?

A multitude of subjects of tension?

The ecologists will oppose the project of a future aircraft carrier and the communists will assert their desire to get out of nuclear deterrence. The Insubordinates will raise, among other things, the question of NATO and will present a global counter-proposal on Monday. The RN will insist on industrial sovereignty. The issue of military partnerships, including European ones, will also be put on the table.

The reinforcement of the arsenal of the National Authority for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI), to better fight against cyberattacks, also promises intense discussions on individual freedoms.

For the retention of military know-how and sensitive information, the text also wants to allow the administration to prevent, under conditions, a soldier from working for a State or a foreign company, and this for ten years following the end of his contract. In session, the government will propose to extend the measure to certain civilian agents.

  • Army
  • Defense
  • Military
  • Bill
  • Sébastien Lecornu
  • National Assembly
  • War in Ukraine
  • Economy