Macron Accelerates France’s Defence Budget to €64 Billion by 2027

Published:

July 14, 2025

Updated:

July 14, 2025

Macron Accelerates France’s Defence Budget to €64 Billion by 2027

President Emmanuel Macron has moved France’s defense-budget targets forward by three years. He told senior commanders on Sunday that annual outlays will reach €64 billion in 2027, not 2030, doubling the 2017 baseline of €32 billion. Defense officials confirm that the shift adds €6.5 billion across 2026-27 on top of figures already voted by Parliament.

France framed the decision as a reply to what Macron called an “age of predators.” Macron’s team cites Russia’s war in Ukraine. It also points to rising nuclear rhetoric from rival states and a jump in state-backed cyberattacks on Europe’s infrastructure. Finance ministry staff say the government still needs to cut about €40 billion from the 2026 civil budget. The Élysée argues that higher defence spending drives orders for domestic firms and boosts tax revenue.

Fiscal steps now scheduled:

An extra €3.5 billion enters the 2026 defense account, lifting that year’s total above €60 billion.
A further €3 billion lands in 2027, taking the headline figure to €64 billion.
The combined two-year top-up equals roughly 0.2 percent of projected GDP.

According to industry sources, the acceleration lets the services place long-lead contracts earlier than planned. The DGA procurement agency has already reopened talks with Dassault Aviation to add six Rafale F4 fighters to the 2026 production slot. Naval Group received an advance letter for two additional multimission frigates, while KNDS France was invited to speed delivery of Jaguar armored cars under the Scorpion program. Officials involved in the talks expect firm signatures before the end of this calendar year.

Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu told lawmakers that combat readiness now sits at eighty percent for frontline squadrons but should reach ninety-five by mid-2027 if the cash arrives on time. He highlighted the air force tanker fleet upgrade. Two additional Airbus A330 MRTTs will join service a full year ahead of schedule. That closes the refueling gap exposed during recent deployments in Eastern Europe. On the space side, the ministry plans to launch the Syracuse 5B secure-satellite relay in 2026 instead of 2028.

Procurement priorities highlighted by the ministry

A faster roll-out of SCORPION family vehicles to the army’s four heavy brigades.
Early refurbishment of the Charles-de-Gaulle carrier’s propulsion section before the PA-NG new-build peaks.
Completion of the M51.4 submarine-launched ballistic-missile upgrade for the nuclear deterrent.
Expansion of the cyber-defense command to 9,000 personnel, up from today’s 6,800.

Parliament still holds the purse strings. Prime Minister François Bayrou will present the first corrective finance bill after Bastille Day. Treasury notes indicate that most of the extra cash will be met by a one-point rise in the exceptional-profits levy on energy firms and by bringing forward dividend taxes on state-owned aerospace companies. Opposition parties have signaled concern over the revenue mix, yet committee chairs from both chambers told reporters they would not stall measures tied to national security.

European partners reacted without public objection. German defense planners privately welcomed the move, seeing room for joint munitions stocks along NATO’s eastern flank. Italian officials said the Franco-Italian SAMP/T-NG air-defense program benefits because France’s share of a 700-missile buy can now be booked in 2026 instead of 2029. In Washington, a senior Pentagon official described the announcement as “evidence that allied spending trajectories continue upward.”

Macron insists the plan rests on sustained economic growth rather than fresh borrowing. He argued that aerospace exports, worth €24 billion last year, will expand once domestic orders de-risk production lines. Analysts at the Banque de France caution that interest-rate trends remain volatile, so the savings target in civil ministries could rise if growth slows. Still, Bayrou told France 2 television on Monday that no existing social-welfare program faces cuts in 2025-26.

The timeline also aligns with procurement realities inside the armed forces. Many weapons entering service this decade – Rafale F4.2 fighters, Griffon command posts, and the Aster-30 Block 1NT interceptor – require multiyear sustainment packages. Defense officials confirm that advance payments built into the new envelope smooth out peaks in supplier invoices and reduce penalty risks.

Our analysis shows that the compressed schedule compels faster decision-making inside both the defense ministry and French industry. Project managers who once expected three budget cycles to reach full-rate production now have two. This may push more consortia toward fixed-price contracts, an approach the Cour des Comptes has long recommended to control overruns.

The Élysée says the updated figures will appear in the 2026-2032 Military Programming Law, due for Cabinet review in September. Until that bill is passed, temporary authorizations let the ministry award contracts against expected ceilings. The Court of Audit will publish a follow-up report in early 2026 to judge whether promised job creation offsets the heavier fiscal load.

Macron Accelerates France’s Defence Budget to €64 Billion by 2027

REFERENCE SOURCES

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