France’s military sector is one of Europe’s strongest and could play a decisive role in making the continent’s defense sector autonomous. But there are hurdles.
France could be pivotal in making Europe’s defense sector autonomous. But the country will have to overcome hurdles — and shouldn’t go it alone, experts warn.
French President Emmanuel Macron was already making the case for what he called “strategic autonomy” back in 2017.
“When it comes to defense, our aim should be for Europe to have the capacity to act autonomously, alongside NATO,” he said during a Europe speech at Sorbonne University in Paris.
At the time, his appeal fell on deaf ears in the European Union, especially on those of then German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Waking up amid new global realities
Eight years on, the mindset has changed. Russia has been invading Ukraine for three years now. More recently, Donald Trump was elected for a second term as US president. He’s adamant his country should no longer be the guarantor of Europe’s security.
The EU has reacted to the new geopolitical reality by announcing it wants to spend €800 billion ($882 billion) on defense until 2030 under a program called ReArm Europe.
Several EU countries are planning to increase their national defense spending — including Spain, Italy and France.
Paris’ defense budget of currently roughly €50 billion — about 2% of French gross domestic product (GDP) — is to double by 2030. Economists say that could boost France’s economic growth by up to 1.5%.
Fanny Coulomb, a lecturer at French university Sciences Po in Grenoble, says the country’s 20,000 defense companies employing about 200,000 people are the backbone of the continent’s defense sector.
“France has players in all segments of the sector. We’ve upheld these skills since the 1960s as opposed to some other countries,” Coulomb, who specializes in defense economics, told DW.
“We reduced our expenses after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, but the terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the subsequent war on terror reversed that trend,” she explained.
