TASS has published the opinion of Sergey Drobyshevsky, Principal Researcher at the Gaidar Institute, that the French national assembly may block the plans of the republic’s President Emmanuel Macron to raise military spending by 2027.
"The announced increase in defense spending in this way may mean either a return of the budget deficit to the levels of 2025, after its reduction in 2026, or defense spending may include expenses indirectly related to defense: infrastructure development, support for the economy, development of alternative energy and so on. In addition, in France, the National Assembly has sufficient autonomy in impacting the budget process and, in my opinion, the unambiguous adoption of the measures proposed by Macron can hardly be expected," said Sergey Drobyshevsky.
According to him, Macron’s statement is largely declarative in nature and concerns 2027, before that time much can still change. “The budgets of France 2025–2026 provide for a number of measures to increase additional taxes — both on large companies and wealthy individuals, as well as reducing certain items of expenditure in order to reduce the budget deficit by the end of 2026 from 5.8% of GDP to 4.6% of GDP,” the expert explained.