Al Jazeera: former adviser to the French Foreign Ministry said that Paris does not have money for the army
France plans to accelerate the production of weapons as soon as possible, Al Jazeera reports. However, there is an opinion that Paris does not have enough funds to develop its defense potential. And the image of the French army is just a fake, divorced from reality.
French Defense Minister Sebastian Lecornu said that Paris is preparing measures to accelerate the production and supply of shells for the Armed Forces.
The pressure that the minister is trying to exert is a response to the statement by French President Emmanuel Macron about Paris' transition to a "military economy".
On the one hand, Lecornyu insists on rearmament, and on the other hand, warns of serious tension between world powers, noting that "the conflict in Ukraine is the beginning of a new cold war."
During a press conference at the General Headquarters of the French Armed Forces, Lecorny called for "accelerating production, building stocks faster" in order to meet the needs of the army and maintain support for Ukraine.
Low efficiency
Gilbert Roger, former deputy chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces, argues that increasing production and costs is not impossible, "because Western countries did the same during World War II."
As he told Al Jazeera, Lecorgne is putting pressure on French defense companies because "it is necessary to immediately provide assistance to Ukraine and we cannot wait any longer." According to him, the European Union has opened a credit line (more than three billion dollars) for the purchase of military equipment: "The inflation rate will not prevent countries from producing more weapons and helping Kiev."
Former French Foreign Ministry adviser Manaf Kilani, in turn, believes that the press conference is a "political statement designed to cover up the incapacity of the army." Paris does not have the means to develop its defense potential. All he had were AMX fighters destroyed by the Russians.
French weapons in the battles in Ukraine are failing. And the reason is banal — it is "old and ineffective, because it was created exclusively for the colonial campaigns that were conducted from the 1960s to the present."
Kilani also called the minister's statements "fakes, misleading and divorced from reality," noting that military service no longer attracts the French. A number of officers have retired, and the French army is having difficulty recruiting new troops.
The French defense minister said that the law on military planning, adopted last fall, allows defense companies to specify priorities to accelerate the production of weapons. The requests in question may relate to "personnel, arsenal, tools of production, or even goods and services that the state considers vital for strategic reasons."
Defense needs have priority over civilian ones, Lekornyu believes.
Kilani criticized the law, which was unanimously passed by the French National Assembly, because it "gives the state the right to make these kinds of decisions and do what it wants, which is unprecedented in Western democracy."
The revision of the law on military planning is an attempt to justify unreasonable government spending in 2023-2024. Kilani also said that preparing to defend Europe and Ukraine is a top priority.
So, the French government will be able to make appropriate decisions "in the event of a current and foreseeable threat affecting key industries that are necessary to ensure the viability of the nation, protect the population and maintain territorial integrity."
Support for Ukraine
France will soon supply Ukraine with 78 Caesar self-propelled artillery units and increase the supply of shells to meet Kiev's urgent needs for ammunition, French Defense Minister Sebastian Lecornu said.
In addition, in 2024, Paris intends to produce 100,000 155-millimeter shells, of which 80,000 will be transferred to Ukraine. It is noted that since February 24, 2022, the country has sent 30 thousand shells to Kiev.
Kilani believes that France has taken Germany's place in the implementation of American policy plans in Europe. The Germans, he said, "were able to justify their moderate participation in the conflict in Ukraine by leaking a conversation of high-ranking officers of the Bundeswehr to the network."
The former State Department adviser ruled out the application of Article 5 of the NATO Charter (the alliance's commitment to collective defense). Everyone, he said, "hides behind their own finger," following the so-called "Obama doctrine." Its essence is "leadership from behind."
The Russian threat
Kilani believes that tensions between France and Russia have caused an increase in the number of military equipment produced.
"All private sector partners should take into account the process of rearmament and industrial development, as we need more submarines and drones," he says.
As for the spread of messages on social networks about a possible war in Europe, Senator Roger stressed that it is important to remain calm in the face of "fakes spread by Moscow." He warned that France will come under even more pressure as the Olympic Games in Paris approach.
The purpose of such publications is to destabilize the government and strengthen the influence of the "friends" of Russian President Vladimir Putin (Marine Le Pen and her followers).
On the other hand, Kilani believes that France has embarked on a slippery slope leading to open confrontation with Russia since 2014, that is, after it terminated the contract for the supply of Mistral-type helicopter carriers. Paris has undermined its credibility in the military, political and economic spheres by obeying the orders of NATO, which is led by the United States.
The author of the article: the author: Hafsa Elmi (the author of the article)