Macron expands French military production amid 'geostrategic changes'
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French President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to an explosives production plant, stressed the necessity for French defense companies to bolster military production domestically.
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A soldier salutes French President Emmanuel Macron at the Mont-de-Marsan air base, southwestern, Friday, January 20, 2023 France. (AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris will expand French military production, emphasizing the need for French defense companies to ramp up production within the country, during a visit to the explosives production plant Eurenco on Thursday.
"We are ready to enter into long-term geopolitical and geostrategic changes in which the role of the defense industry will become increasingly important," he said.
Macron's statement came as he laid the foundation stone for a new gunpowder factory in Bergerac, western France, aiming to revitalize production in a plant that ceased operations in 2007 after operating since 1915.
In a speech that was broadcast on the official Elysee Palace X account, Macron explained, "This world will not end if the war stops tomorrow, because Russia is massively rearming itself, and because everywhere in Europe military spending and defense orders are growing."
Macron highlighted that France has significantly increased the production rate of Caesar howitzers provided to Ukraine, tripling the output, and emphasizing their global sales. Additionally, he noted Eurenco's contribution to ammunition production, stating that it has doubled its output since the onset of the conflict in Ukraine.
"We will go even further. The new plant in Bergerac, which will add to the existing production in Sweden, should allow to double it again," Macron said.
Borrell blames 'ring of fires' in Sahel and MENA for possible EU war
The possibility of a high-intensity conventional war "looming in the horizon" in Europe "is no longer a fantasy," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell earlier on April 9.
The EU chief argued that this comes amid all-over-the-globe conflicts, as he explained, "We imagined to be in a world with a ring of friends after the fall of the Berlin Wall and this is replaced by a ring of fires among us, of instability from the Sahel, to the Middle East, to the Caucasus, to the Baltic [region] not to look deeper into Africa. Ring of fire around us, I think we are living a very important moment in European construction because war is looming in the horizon and that is not a small matter, that is not a small thing."
The top diplomat emphasized that the European Union does not foresee establishing a unified military force in the near future. Instead, defense will continue to be the responsibility of individual member states.
Read more: France double-faced on Ukraine as Russian gas imports soar: Politico
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