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France's defence review
Let's get real
Jun 19th 2008 | PARISFrom The Economistprint edition
Seeking smaller, sharper defences
MAKE no mistake, declared President Nicolas Sarkozy on June
17th, as he unveiledthe results of France's first full defence
review for 14 years, national and Europeanterritory could be struck
tomorrow...we cannot rule out the reappearance of a majorthreat,
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 hisresponse to today's security and
terrorist risks. France will invest heavily inmodernising the armed
forces' equipment, including a new space programme, at theprice of
reducing its headcount. It is time, he urged, to stop measuring a
country'smilitary might by its manpower alone. French soldiers may
be numerous, but theystruggle with 45-year-old refuelling aircraft,
28-year-old armoured vehicles, 30-year-old helicopters and a fleet
of tanks of which as few as 50% are actually in workingorder.
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) betweennow and 2020although a decision on whether to
build a second aircraft-carrier hasbeen postponed. Defence spending
will increase by one percentage point aboveinflation from 2012. In
time, the result should be a leaner, smarter, sharper army,better
equipped to respond to globalised risks, including terrorism and
cyber-attacks.
The defence review was carried out by a commission of experts
and political typeswho sat for nearly a year and held around 40
public hearings. The white paper they
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produced defines France's first formal national security
strategy, to be overseen by new national security council. Three
novelties stand out.
First is a shift of focus from France's old historic spheres
towards a strategic arc ofinstability that stretches from the
Atlantic via the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulfand Horn of
Africa and on to south Asia. France will close one of its two
permanentmilitary bases in sub-Saharan Africa, both of them in
ex-colonies. However, it willkeep 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 high-tech and human. Yearly spending on
satellite technology, including spy satellites andelectromagnetic
surveillance, will double. France will launch a system of
ballistic-missile early-warning satellites, starting later this
year, to be fully operational by2020. There will also be a new
national intelligence co-ordinator, answering to thepresident.
Third, the white paper approves France's reintegration into
NATO's military commandstructure, which Charles de Gaulle pulled
out of in 1966. In his speech, Mr Sarkozymade it plain that
France's return will take place only in parallel with progress
onEuropean defenceand that France will retain its independent
nuclear force de frappeOne obstacle to more joint European
defenceAmerican objections to a potential rivato NATOhas been
removed. Mr Sarkozy said this week that, despite the
uncertaintyafter the Irish no to the Lisbon treaty, he wants to
press ahead on defence during thesix-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 operationfor 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 toestablish a joint navy or standing force, says Franois
Heisbourg, director of theFoundation for Strategic Research and a
commission member. It's about sharingassets when requested, not
handing over authority to a third-party command.
Many elements in Mr Sarkozy's plan will be contested. Over 450
communes acrossFrance have a defence base; at least 30 may close.
Over 250 mayors or deputies havalready turned up at the defence
ministry to protest. It is also unclear how farEuropean defence
co-operation can get when EU leaders are distracted by
institutionatroubles; and the British dislike anything with the
whiff of a permanent EU defence-planning capability.
As for France's full return to NATO, the left and Gaullists
alike have seized on this as athreat to French independence.
Patricia Adam, a Socialist deputy who resigned fromthe
defence-review commission, denounced the white paper as a very
Bush-likevision, very American. With another 700 French soldiers
soon to join NATO forces ineastern Afghanistan, the reality of
deeper French commitment to NATO may not yethave fully hit
home.
