Post date: Apr 29, 2013 6:0:32 PM
France will keep its defence budget broadly stable for the next five years although the flat budget will mean 34,000 job losses by 2019 says a blueprint for military strategy published on Monday.
PARIS, FRANCE (APRIL 29, 2013) (REUTERS) - France announced on Monday (April 29) they would not cut into their Defence budget for the coming years but will still end up in a 34,000 military job cut.
The French government published a so-called "white paper" revealing the broad outlines of national security and defence strategy for the coming years, but without disclosing figures, as an official budget is expected by the end of the year.France will keep its defence budget at the same level for the next six years after the government decided that proposed cuts would hamper its ability to mount military operations such as its intervention in Mali.
The freeze will still lead to the loss of 34,000 jobs in the defence ministry at a time of growing unemployment in France, according to the review.
"It's an important step, which sets the tendencies for the next 12 years. It's a realistic step, it's a step which combines the necessity for our country to assume its economic recovery - we know that a country in debt is not efficient - it combines this necessity, the budget prudence, and the necessity to have an army, some forces able to insure the protection of the French people, able also to insure the international responsibilities of France in Europe and elsewhere," said Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian after the release of the blueprint.
France's military budget as a percentage of GDP has been on a steady decline over the past 50 years, and is currently at approximately 1.5 percent, compared to 5.44 percent in 1960.
The "White Paper" maintains 2014 spending at 31.4 billion euros, equivalent to 1.5 percent of GDP, and sets a budget for the five-year period of 179.2 billion euros.
The defence ministry has borne the brunt of government cuts in recent years, seeing its annual budget decline from about 2.5 percent of economic output after the Cold War.
But the outcome is not as drastic as some expected.
"They (the choices) are not apocalyptic as one could have thought at some point. In the three fields concerned with Defence, which are the nuclear dissuasion, the protection of the area, and the capacity to take action abroad, France will keep the means to take action," Le Drian said.
The review, which outlines defence priorities from 2014 to 2019, comes at a sensitive time for France, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and a nuclear power.
The document seeks to overhaul the armed forces to create a more mobile armyand to boost intelligence resources and special forces.
It also makes cyber security a priority.
France has 328,869 active military personnel.
The army, with 137,248, represents 53.7 percent of manpower.
18,800 military personnel were deployed outside metropolitan France as of May 2012.
France's army, navy and air force included, as of December 31, 2011, 7,299 armoured vehicles, 391 helicopters, 75 combat and support ships, 273 combat aircraft, 246 ground-to-air weapons systems.