France To Boost Defence Spending By A Third

President Emmanuel Macron on Friday announced plans to increase France's defence budget by a third for the next seven years, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year rattled Europe

MontdeMarsan, France, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Jan, 2023 ) :President Emmanuel Macron on Friday announced plans to increase France's defence budget by a third for the next seven years, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year rattled Europe.

The announcement came a day after more than a million people protested in France against a proposed reform to cut pensions deficits.

Macron said he would ask parliament to approve a new budget of more than 400 billion Euros ($430 billion) for 2024-2030, up from 295 billion euros for the 2019-2025 period.

"After repairing the armed forces, we are going to transform them," he told soldiers at the southwestern air base of Mont-de-Marsan.

"We need to do better and do it differently," Macron added.

We need to "privilege rapid action and increasing power because we won't choose the conflicts we will have to wage."Macron also said the budget for military intelligence would be increased by 60 percent for the same period, and he hoped to double the country's ability to respond to major cyber attacks.