Since the attacks of 7, 8 and 9 January (17 dead), “ France is facing serious threats both inside and outside our territory ” said Wednesday Francois Hollande after a Defence Council bringing together the key political and military leaders.
The Sentinel operation of military patrols undertaken since the beginning of the year with 10,000 men will be “ perpetuated ” with “ 7,000 military ” affected this mission “ sustainably ,” the president added.
The defense budget (31.4 billion euros in 2015) of France, one of the leading military powers in Europe with Great Britain, will benefit from “ 3 , 8 billion (euros) Additional “between 2016 and 2019, also said the president. “ This is an important effort, it is even a considerable effort “, he noted.
This decision runs counter to a general trend of declining defense budgets in the West. .
It was taken “ with the desire to increase growth and employment at the highest level. I made this choice because it is that of France, its protection of its security. The French if they want to have confidence in the future should feel safe anywhere, protected “, argued Francois Hollande.
This increase in the defense budget will focus spending on personnel and equipment the French army needs to adapt to the new challenges posed by the terrorist threat. François Hollande made particular reference to the need to devote more resources to cyber defense, aeronautics and intelligence.
Taking into account the decisions taken on Wednesday, the “ update ” of the 2014-2019 military programming Act, passed in 2013, will be the subject of a draft Law submitted to the government on May 20 before consideration and a vote in Parliament, he also said.
These decisions will result in the cancellation of more than half the job cuts in the armed under the 2014-2019 military programming Act.
– preserved 18,500 jobs –
So, 18,500 positions will be preserved on the 34,000 threatened with removal, said the president.
Earlier this year, the President had announced the freezing of 7,500 planned job cuts in 2015.
To meet the new demand of François Hollande, the Ministry of Defense wants to convey the land forces tank that can be deployed on the ground 66,000 soldiers to 77,000 today.
“ Today it is beyond the operational contract both outside and inside and we have to resume the margin ” notes are we at the Department of Defense. “ It is to trim permissions and even the phases of retraining before returning to operations “.
Outside, 9,000 men are currently mobilized in the Sahel, Central Africa and the Gulf. Since the attacks in January, 10,000 soldiers protect sensitive sites in France for an estimated cost of one million euros a day.
The French army (armed Air Force, Army and Navy) has about 215,000 military and civilian personnel.
Francois Hollande has finally drawn a line under the dispute between the ministries of defense and finance a budget hole of € 2.2 billion in the defense budget 2015.
This was betting on windfall revenues of 2.2 billion euros related to the sale of radio frequencies DTT to private operators but has lagged far behind. This option is abandoned, suggested Hollande.
“ In 2015, the credits of the Ministry of Defence of 31.4 billion euros and it will sanctuarized budget appropriations without any use of external resources ” he has said Wednesday.
The president has ruled out the use of “ project companies “, the legal instruments that have purchased military equipment (aircraft Airbus A400M, multimission frigates) and then rent them to the army.
This solution, proposed by the Defence, was strongly opposed by Finance.
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