The High Council of Public Finances expressed concerns in a public statement on Wednesday about the compatibility between state spending control and the increase in credits allocated to the armed forces.
Even though the language is cautious and technical, the opinion is severe. The High Council of Public Finances, which is linked to the Court of Auditors, issued a critical opinion on the update project of the military program law presented the same day at the Council of Ministers. The magistrates doubt that the new trajectory, which increases the 2024-2030 Military Programming Law by 36 billion euros, is compatible with the country’s budgetary situation, supposed to contain or reduce its deficit.
“The provisions of the update project cannot be compatible with the spending objectives of the public finance programming law,” they wrote, pointing out the contradictions between the different objectives. Although the Court does not criticize the legitimacy of increasing defense spending, projected at 436 billion euros over five years plus 13 billion in off-budget revenues, it raises concerns, as it has previously, about the state’s standard of living.
