True to his pledge made during the French election campaign last year, President Emmanuel Macron last week put forward a proposal for a substantial and welcome increase in France's defence budget.
This move follows at least a decade of reductions in French defence spending. Macron's election commitment had been looking slightly shaky after a controversial cut to France's 2017 defence budget, which led to the resignation last July of France's then Chief of Defence Staff, General Pierre de Villiers. De Villiers had made critical comments about the reduction; Macron reminded him publicly who's boss.
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