Each year, during the ceremony given at the Hotel de Brienne on July 13, the Head of State pays tribute to the armies: to the bereaved families, to the wounded, to the commitment of the soldiers and to the singularity of their profession, in the service of the nation. In the garden of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, the entire military community is represented. The adoption by the Senate, during the day, of the Military Programming Law 2024-2030, by 313 votes for and 17 against, is in most discussions. The law is now in the hands of the Council of State before its promulgation. The timetable set by Emmanuel Macron, who wanted to finish before July 14, is almost respected.
“What you voted for is a good text,” he said, addressing the many parliamentarians, from the majority and the opposition present. However, the government had to make concessions to obtain a majority and accepted a slight revision of the budget schedule, accelerating the increase. The government is nevertheless satisfied and the Minister of the Armies Sébastien Lecornu can rejoice, behind the scenes, to see Matignon and Bercy being caught out.
“The law has been debated, it is a guarantee of democracy”, conceded Emmanuel Macron, welcoming the major effort made since his first election in 2017 and the doubling of the budget of the armies. “We didn’t need a wake-up call to be aware of the need to reinvest,” he said. For other countries, such as Germany, it was necessary to wait for the war in Ukraine to announce a change of course.
A new chapter will be able to open. The Ministry of the Armed Forces “must be redesigned”, announced the President of the Republic. Operations and the risk of war must “be at the heart of its organization”, he continued, welcoming the reform already accomplished at the Center for Planning and Conduct of Operations, where all the operations of the armies.
The logic of economy that had prevailed during the previous decades should therefore come to an end. The president wants to “guarantee the soldiers have the means to accomplish their missions”. He did not give details, leaving it to the Minister of the Armed Forces to present a new “model” by the summer of 2024. The president set four principles: “Never lose sight of the strategic spirit”, “keeping the spirit of responsibility everywhere”, “imposing subsidiarity” and “declining agility in each place”.
Behind this abstract roadmap are also hidden concrete issues of recruitment and retention. The army faces difficulties in attracting and retaining officers. In cutting-edge fields such as cyber or space, it must compete with sometimes very attractive competition from the private sector. Emmanuel Macron wants to better take into account the “aspirations” of those who commit. The Ministry of the Armed Forces has already initiated reforms, in particular with the continuation of the Family plan. He will no doubt be able to rely on the report of the High Committee for the Evaluation of Military Condition, which has just been given to him, but which will only be public in a few weeks.
