France to create a defence fund for citizens to invest in
French state investment bank Bpifrance will create a €450 million fund to support the defence sector. This was announced by Finance Minister Eric Lombard, noting that the French defence industry needs more than five billion euros of additional capital in the coming years.
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The fund will be part of France's efforts to increase military spending amid doubts about future US protection. French citizens will be able to invest in it in tranches of 500 euros for long-term investment.
France has been playing a leading role in European rearmament initiatives due to the threat of a rapprochement between the US and Russia, which has raised concerns about the possible expansion of Russian influence.
However, with an already overstretched budget, the government is finding it difficult to finance its defence ambitions. European Central Bank member François Villeroy de Galleau stressed that while defence spending needs to be increased, it should remain within the country's financial means, given the high public deficit.
President Emmanuel Macron, who has doubled France's military budget in two terms, is seeking an even greater increase in defence spending - up to 3-3.5% of GDP from the current 2%. In 2024, the country's defence budget was already 56.6 billion euros.
Source: Reuters
