The draft military programming law (LPM), which provides for a global envelope of 413 billion euros over seven years (2024 to 2030), was largely adopted by the Senate on Thursday 29 June at first reading. It confirms an acceleration in the pace of spending in the first years.
The vote was won by 314 votes "for" and 17 "against". Only the CRCE group with a communist majority voted against and the ecologists abstained for the most part. Deputies and senators will try next Thursday to agree on a compromise version in the joint committee, the executive hoping for final adoption before July 14.
'Tougher competition'
Much of the debate focused on a battle of numbers between the government and the right-wing Senate majority. Widely adopted at first reading by deputies, the LPM "acts of the return of a tougher competition between the great powers, against a background of nuclear proliferation," according to the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu. The appropriations are to be used to modernize nuclear deterrence, improve the treatment of troops and their families, and improve the conditions of reservists, to double the number (80,000 volunteers targeted for 2030).
The LPM, which will be updated in 2027 by a vote of Parliament, also intends to "modernize" the military apparatus: 10 billion for innovation, 6 billion for "space", 4 billion for "cyber", 5 billion for drones... Thirty billion must cover inflation.
A "sovereignty savings book"
The Senate has adopted a budgetary trajectory at a more regular pace, accelerating the effort from 2024, but all remaining within the overall envelope of 413 billion euros, according to the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Christian Cambon (LR). He also returned to the postponement of delivery after 2030, planned by the government, of certain equipment: armored vehicles of the Scorpion program, offshore patrol boats, A400M transport aircraft. The minister announces a bill increased to "at least 416.2 billion if not 420 billion" because of these changes.
Another big point of contention: the Senate has restored the objective of increasing the share of the budget of the Armed Forces to 2% of GDP from 2025, while the government prefers "out of honesty" to provide a range "between 2025 and 2027". The senators propose the creation of a "sovereignty savings book", exempt from tax and social security contributions, intended for the financing of defense companies.
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Against the advice of the government, the Senate has planned that the next LPM be preceded by a "White Paper on Defence and National Security". Similarly, it wishes to set up, within the parliamentary delegation for intelligence, a commission to verify arms exports. The Senate also approved several government amendments that were not debated, including so that anti-drone equipment could be included in the definition of war materials.