The geostrategic context being hot, France intends to continue increasing its military spending. This desire of Paris, however, comes up against a reality: state revenue remains limited in the face of constantly increasing expenditure. Despite everything, after having adopted a record military programming law (LPM) of more than 400 billion euros in 2023, the deputies and senators validated in April an extension of 36 billion to adapt to new threats. Additional funding intended for the armies, but the origin of which remained uncertain, while most ministries are facing austerity.
While the project to update the LPM has not yet been fully adopted by Parliament and a step remains to be taken in the joint joint committee, the Ministry of the Armed Forces indicated that a loan agreement had just been signed on the sidelines of the air-land arms show Eurosatory. « The ministers Catherine Vautrin et Roland Lescure [ministre de l'Économie] signed with European commissioners Andrius Kubilius [Défense et Espace] et Piotr Serafin [Budget] the loan agreement of 15.1 billion euros under the European SAFE instrument, June 17 », at-il en effet annoncé via un communiqueé. «ÂWith this signature, France reaffirms its commitment to building a more sovereign, more resilient defense Europe capable of collectively responding to current and future security challenges.“, he added.
For her part, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Catherine Vautrin, gave some details on the objective of this loan. “For France, this mechanism will notably support our efforts in priority areas such as transport and mission aviation, munitions and missiles and even space.“, she explained on X.
Europe pays, for the benefit of its strategic competitors?
SAFE, adopted on May 27, 2025 at the end of the Council of the European Union, is a financing tool which has some reservations, particularly in France, whose defense industry is one of the most sovereign on the Old Continent. The system allows the States of the European Union to borrow up to 150 billion euros on advantageous conditions to finance arms purchases.
Its repayment must be spread over forty-five years. But the devil is in the details: the text authorizes up to 35% of non-European components in financed equipment, thus widely opening the door to American, British or other subcontractors. In short: Europe pays, but its competitors benefit?
