France may be important in making the defense sector of Europe autonomous. But the country must remove obstacles – and it should not go alone, the experts warned.
French President Emmanuel Macron was already making a case to be called “strategic autonomy” in 2017.
“When it comes to defense, our purpose for Europe should be the ability to work autonomously with NATO,” he said during a speech at the University of Sorbone in Paris.
At that time, his appeal on deaf ears in the European Union, especially on those of the then German Chanman Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Wake up among new global realities
Eight years later, the mindset has changed. Russia has now been attacking Ukraine for three years. Recently, Donald Trump was selected for a second term as the US President. It should no longer be a guarantor of the security of Europe to his country.
The European Union has reacted to the new geopolitical reality, announcing that it wants to spend € 800 billion ($ 882 billion) on defense by 2030, which is called under a program by 2030. Rear Europe.
Many European Union countries are planning to increase their national defense spending – including Spain, Italy and France.
French President Macron announced that in 2026 and 2027, an additional € 6.5 billion ($ 7.6 billion) will be invested in defense, which will take the country’s defense budget to € 64 billion by the end of its tenure in 2027. This will be the defense budget that Macron was first chosen, and 2027.
Fanny Kulamb, a lecturer at French University Science PO at Grenobal, says 4,500 defense companies in the country employ around 200,000 people, which are the backbone of the continent’s defense sector.
“France has players in all sectors in the sector. We have retained these skills, opposite to another country of the 1960s,” Kulumb, who specializes in defense economics, told DW.
He said, “We reduced our expenses after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, but the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the subsucent reverse the tendency on terror,” he explained.
France still has ‘war culture’
Another defense specialist, Silvy dirty, thinks that all of this is a contradiction to maintain a certain “war culture” in the French society.
“We need to be able to understand the nature of the danger, whether weapons need arms,” Jacques Delers, director of the Paris -based Think Tank Institute, told DW. “Paris has maintained that ability to military analysis contrary to the discovery of the country as Germany.”
He said that France is a precursor to the so-called system-off system (SOS) capacity, which is a set of unique systems that demonstrate a general mission by combing the colleagues of multiple systems, “according to A.” dictionary Compiled by the US Defense Acquisition University (DAU) at Fort Belwaar, Virginia.
Matley states that it includes, for example, high -tech products such as French Rafale fighter jets or Charles de Gaul aircraft carriers.
He said, “Mauhill, we have reduced our production of light weapons and ammunition significantly. We thought it would be easy to kickstart again, as thesis products are less complex,” she said.
But there are obstacles to restart, or promote, promote military production.
“We will need a large amount of raw materials, which is difficult for the source, our sanctions on the important mineral supplier Russia require our sanctions on Ukraine’s invasion,” said Culumb. “What is more, we have to train more engineers and experts immediately, as our industrial areas have a continuous -base over the last few decades.”
And money can be an issue. France is struggling with high public debt and needs to reduce its deficiency, which has been predicted to be 5% acted this year.
The government has announced in such a way that it will begin a defense mutual discovery in the entire investment bank BPIFRANCE. Other financial products are discussed to capture the savings of French citizens.
More investors interest after Trump’s struggle with Zelansky
The Paris-based agency Defense Angels are expecting more influx this year. Since its 2021 launch, special investor network in the defense sector has injected a total of € 2 million in 23 companies. This year alone, its 90 investors can start around 30 startups in the field.
The conflict between Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Volodimir Zelancesi at the White House at the end of February was “Game-Chanceer”, Francois Mattens, co-founder and vice-president of the defense angels.
The meeting ended with a planned signature of a raw material deal and the apprehension increased that the US could stop providing military aid to Ukraine. Washington’s support resumed after a small break.
Recalling the incident, Mattens told DW that many investors who hesitated, called me, calling me that they wanted to move forward with their investment. “
For him, this interest important role is evidence of startups. “We need the state of innovation and art technology in the defense sector. Dynamic startups are more fit to achieve that large, passive groups.”
Increased investors in Cailabs White House can confirm interest.
Rennes produces France-based startup laser-based equipment that provides internet and safe communication lines-rival products to US billionaires Elon Musk’s starlink satellite cuisine.
Celab’s CEO Jean-Frankois Morizur told DW, “Our installation is less easy to detect as they do not rely on radio signals. However, they are still too large to be posted on the frontline.”
The company still makes half of its revenue in the military sector. This part is the route up to 80%. “For now, for now, most of our products are sold in the US, but that son can change when Europe begins investing on a large scale,” Morizur said.
Does French need to be more modest?
Paris -based Cyros has recently signed its first batch of defense contracts. Startup satellite uses artificial intelligence to analyze changes in images. Thesis may soon be involved in contingent movements in change.
“France wants to play an important role in expertise about space technology, as it is about a mini silicone valley and a lot of excellent research institutes in that region,” Kyaros co-founder Antony Halaf told DW.
But this does not mean that France should play a single hand, experts to agree.
And the Deputy Director of the Center for Research, the Center for Research, the Center for Research needs to find the correct tone for the Delphin Deschx-Datard, the Center for Research on International Security and European Cooperation.
It should not be thought that France would “replace the new global defense leader”, he told DW as a strong European defense sector was about the discovery of other countries as Germany or Italy.
“We need European champions to achieve the economy of the scale. France needs to be diplomatic nor not much.”
Edited by: Uwe Hessler
Note the editor: French President Macron has been updated to reflect plans for the original, original, defense spending published on 8 April.
