French President Emmanuel Macron said in June at the Eurosatory military exhibition in Paris that in the context of the dramatically changed international situation, the country is entering a period of “war economy” that requires increased military spending and closer cooperation at the EU level.
Voiced at the very beginning of the second presidential term, it should form the basis of the subsequent decisions, opening a new stage in the evolution of the military policy of the Fifth Republic.
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It is necessary to clarify the concept of “war economy”.
Apparently, it is not intended to transfer the entire national economy to the military by converting civilian enterprises and mobilizing labor reserves, the government says.
This is about supporting the already established military-industrial complex — tens of large and thousands of small and medium-sized companies engaged in the industry and providing highly skilled jobs.
The main goal of the French authorities in this regard is to update the law on military planning (LPM), issued in 2018 until 2025.
While inside the country, most of the processes in the French defense policy are about the renewal of LPM, the main activity of Paris in international relations is devoted to the consolidation of military-political ties with countries that French diplomacy focused on in the previous five years.
First of all, this concerns the closest allies of the Fifth Republic in the EU and NATO, some Indo-Pacific powers, and several states in the Middle East and Africa.