France is set to significantly increase its defence budget over the coming years, citing a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape marked by prolonged conflicts and uncertainty over long-standing alliances.
France plans to boost its defence spending by an additional €36bn (£31bn) between now and 2030 under a revised military planning law that will expand its nuclear arsenal and increase stockpiles of missiles and drones.
The proposed rise, despite one of the largest budget deficits in the eurozone, underscores growing security pressures driven by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as increasing uncertainty surrounding US commitments to NATO under US President Donald Trump.
The updated 2024–2030 framework envisages defence spending reaching 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade, up from roughly 2% at present. Annual defence expenditure is projected to climb to €76.3bn by 2030 — nearly double its 2017 level.
“Profound and brutal shifts in the international geopolitical balance are forcing us to act more decisively and more rapidly,” France’s defence minister, Catherine Vautrin, wrote in a summary of the bill published on Wednesday. “France has recognised a global transition towards prolonged and multi-dimensional conflicts.”
While France already meets NATO’s 2% spending target, the scope of its defence commitments remains broader than that of most allies, ranging from maintaining a nuclear deterrent to operating an aircraft carrier. At the same time, the government aims to reduce its budget deficit from around 5% of GDP to the European Union’s 3% ceiling by 2029.
A central element of the revised defence policy is the strengthening of nuclear deterrence. The draft legislation proposes increasing the number of nuclear warheads, while keeping nuclear spending at roughly 13% of the overall defence budget.
