“We’re not, but we should be.”
That was French economy minister Éric Lombard’s response to a question on March 1 asking if France is now in a war economy.
In June 2022, French president Emmanuel Macron addressed the country’s defense industry, four months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “Everything has changed,” Macron said, arguing that a war economy would be necessary to ensure Europe’s collective defense against Russia.
“It will require states to invest more, and for us to demand more from our industry,” Macron promised.
A bevy of jingoistic plans in recent days, promising trillions of euros worth of spending to construct a new decade of common European defense, makes it clear that France is jockeying to be the leading power in the new European military order.
That’s despite the fact that, according to both Macron’s government and European Union authorities, France is facing a serious budgetary deficit that it needs to address immediately.
Even before Donald Trump was elected, and before he and his vice president, J. D. Vance, clashed spectacularly on live TV with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, the idea of a collective defense plan in Europe had been making headway.
Macron is one of Europe’s strongest supporters of the idea, and since his first election in 2017 has argued for what is now called “strategic autonomy.” Zelensky’s humiliation only accelerates long-standing plans by Macron to move out of Washington’s shadow and have France become the leading military power in a revitalized, rearmed Europe.
Supporters of Macron’s vision are now taking a victory lap as the United Kingdom and Germany discuss an unprecedented military break with the United States, including switching from…
Auteur: Marlon Ettinger
