France's defence review

Let's get real

Jun 19th 2008 | PARIS From The Economist print edition

Seeking smaller, sharper defences

MAKE no mistake, declared President Nicolas Sarkozy on June 17th, as he unveiled the results of France's first full defence review for 14 years, national and European territory could be struck tomorrow...we cannot rule out the reappearance of a major threat, whatever its nature, that would put the very survival of the nation in peril.

AFP

Allons, enfantsto the chop

The president's speech, delivered in front of 3,000 French officers, laid out bluntly his response to today's security and terrorist risks. France will invest heavily in modernising the armed forces' equipment, including a new space programme, at the price of reducing its headcount. It is time, he urged, to stop measuring a country's military might by its manpower alone. French soldiers may be numerous, but they struggle with 45-year-old refuelling aircraft, 28-year-old armoured vehicles, 30-yearold helicopters and a fleet of tanks of which as few as 50% are actually in working order. Out of 320,000 defence posts, civilian and military, 54,000 will go. All savings will go towards upgrading military hardware, at a cost of 200 billion ($300 billion) between now and 2020although a decision on whether to build a second aircraft-carrier has been postponed. Defence spending will increase by one percentage point above inflation from 2012. In time, the result should be a leaner, smarter, sharper army, better equipped to respond to globalised risks, including terrorism and cyberattacks. The defence review was carried out by a commission of experts and political types who sat for nearly a year and held around 40 public hearings. The white paper they

produced defines France's first formal national security strategy, to be overseen by a new national security council. Three novelties stand out. First is a shift of focus from France's old historic spheres towards a strategic arc of instability that stretches from the Atlantic via the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa and on to south Asia. France will close one of its two permanent military bases in sub-Saharan Africa, both of them in ex-colonies. However, it will keep its base in Djibouti, and invest in a new base in Abu Dhabi, its first in the Gulf and in a country with which it has no colonial links. At the same time, the white paper puts greater emphasis on intelligence, both hightech and human. Yearly spending on satellite technology, including spy satellites and electromagnetic surveillance, will double. France will launch a system of ballisticmissile early-warning satellites, starting later this year, to be fully operational by 2020. There will also be a new national intelligence co-ordinator, answering to the president. Third, the white paper approves France's reintegration into NATO's military command structure, which Charles de Gaulle pulled out of in 1966. In his speech, Mr Sarkozy made it plain that France's return will take place only in parallel with progress on European defenceand that France will retain its independent nuclear force de frappe. One obstacle to more joint European defenceAmerican objections to a potential rival to NATOhas been removed. Mr Sarkozy said this week that, despite the uncertainty after the Irish no to the Lisbon treaty, he wants to press ahead on defence during the six-month French presidency of the European Union, which starts on July 1st. Ideally, the French would like the EU to be able to send 60,000 troops into operation for a year. They want a separate military-planning structure to run such operations. This would involve pooling resources on an ad hoc basis, not the creation of a European super-army. The white paper certainly does not say that we want to establish a joint navy or standing force, says Franois Heisbourg, director of the Foundation for Strategic Research and a commission member. It's about sharing assets when requested, not handing over authority to a third-party command. Many elements in Mr Sarkozy's plan will be contested. Over 450 communes across France have a defence base; at least 30 may close. Over 250 mayors or deputies have already turned up at the defence ministry to protest. It is also unclear how far European defence co-operation can get when EU leaders are distracted by institutional troubles; and the British dislike anything with the whiff of a permanent EU defenceplanning capability. As for France's full return to NATO, the left and Gaullists alike have seized on this as a threat to French independence. Patricia Adam, a Socialist deputy who resigned from the defence-review commission, denounced the white paper as a very Bush-like vision, very American. With another 700 French soldiers soon to join NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, the reality of deeper French commitment to NATO may not yet have fully hit home.