The Minister of the Economy announces the mobilization of French private savings to finance the war effort #FrenchFinance

This Thursday, during a question session with the government in the Senate, the Minister of the Economy, Éric Lombard, announced the mobilization of private savings to finance France’s defense effort. He said a meeting would be held on March 20 at Bercy with the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, investors and companies in the defense sector to discuss this initiative.

Faced with the need to increase military spending without worsening the public deficit or compromising the French social model, the government is exploring solutions to finance this effort. Éric Lombard has expressed reservations about creating a savings account dedicated to defense, preferring to use existing investment mechanisms to channel private savings into the defense sector.

As a reminder, Emmanuel Macron had called on European countries to increase their defense spending to 3-3,5% of gross domestic product, in response to potential threats and the reduced role of the United States in Europe. For France, whose defense spending currently represents 2% of GDP, this would imply an annual increase of approximately €30 billion. The government plans to reduce the public deficit from 5,4% to 3% by 2029 and aims to align the increase in defense spending with these budgetary objectives.