Five years later, his opinion has not changed. General Pierre de Villiers still believes that the defense budget is insufficiently endowed. This disagreement had led him to leave his post as Chief of the Defense Staff (CEMA) at the start of Emmanuel Macron’s five-year term in 2017.
On the eve of the publication of his work “Paroles d’honneur” – his fourth book in five years – Pierre de Villiers reaffirms his position. “The French armies today do not have the means for a high-intensity war,” he declared in the parisian. According to him, the situation in “Ukraine must force us to readjust our model.”
“You have to adapt it not to what we’ve been doing for decades, war operations, but to win a war.
The one who is, in addition, brother of the sovereignist Philippe de Villiers notes “with satisfaction”, increases in the Defense budget of “1,700 million euros per year since 2017” and “even 3,000 million euros for 2023”. But, for the former CEMA, “we will have to go much further.”
“Much more, and urgently”
According to Pierre de Villiers, “we must continue to modernize our forces”, review “the entire logistical aspect” and accelerate “the increase in power of our industrial apparatus”.
“How is it that since February 24 (date of the Russian invasion of Ukraine), we are still only in the preparatory work of the next Military Programming Law?”, he asks.
“I am waiting for the response to this increase in credits, to this need for vision. It’s not going fast enough,” she insists. For him, “we need much more and urgently.” However, Pierre de Villiers specifies that it is first necessary “to start from the model of the army that is wanted, and then” to address the question of financing.
Emmanuel Macron will give a speech on Defense this Wednesday in Toulon. On this occasion, he will announce the National Strategic Review, the basis for the next military programming law for the years 2024-2030.
Source: BFM TV
