President Emmanuel Macron is preparing on Thursday to give the first television interview of his second five-year term on the occasion of the national holiday on July 14, after taking part in the traditional military parade on the Champs-Élysées, in a strategic context marked by the return to war in Europe.
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At 1.10 p.m. on the France 2 and TF1 channels, the Head of State will “set the course, the outlines of the policy that must be carried out”, in a complex domestic political context following the backlash of his coalition on the France 2 and TF1 channels. General elections in June that stripped him of an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
He is expected to discuss the domestic political situation, the government’s agenda and the measures needed to mitigate the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine, which is weighing on growth and fueling a surge in energy and oil prices.
On Thursday morning, Emmanuel Macron surveyed the troops aboard a military vehicle in bright sunshine before attending the parade of the French armed forces from the stands in Place de la Concorde, led by the Patrouille de France and their famous blue, white and red ribbon.
In all, around 6,300 people, including almost 5,000 on foot, marched along the procession in front of a compact crowd that year. The show mobilized 64 airplanes, a drone, 25 helicopters, 200 horses and 181 motorized vehicles.
The parade ended musically with a song composed especially for the occasion entitled “France”, performed by Candice Parise.
The parade on foot opened with the flags of 9 invited foreign countries, mostly neighbors of Russia or Ukraine: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria.
French troops recently stationed on the eastern flank of Europe followed suit.
Paris has significantly increased its reinsurance missions there since the beginning of the war. Some 500 French soldiers were urgently deployed to Romania under NATO at the end of February, and Paris is ready to increase its contingent if necessary.
France also participates in ground and air reassurance missions in Estonia and its Rafale fighter jets help protect Polish skies.
Faced with the war in Ukraine but also inflation, President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday evening announced a new Military Programming Law (LPM) 2024-2030 to “adjust means to the threats” while, according to him, France is entering a “war economy”. . .
In 2017, after years of shortages, the head of state began a sharp increase in defense credit. The armed forces budget will continue to grow in 2022 before exceeding a march from €3 billion to €44 billion in 2023.
But the high-intensity conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the shortcomings of the French defense system, especially when it comes to ammunition.
Today is about “replenishing certain stocks faster and stronger, knowing how to make more equipment adapted to this high-intensity war on our soil and making innovative choices,” argued the head of state on Wednesday.
Despite the deterioration in public finances amid the effects of the health crisis, the Élysée hopes to rally opposition around the issue of defence, which benefits from a relative consensus within the political class.
The issue also concerns France’s weight in Europe and on the international stage at a time when most EU countries are arming themselves, starting with Germany, which has allocated a special fund of 100 billion euros for its defence.
The 2022 edition of the parade was an opportunity to show the new equipment of the French armies, such as the Jaguar armored reconnaissance vehicle, alongside the new generation Griffon armored vehicle, which is gradually replacing the forward armored vehicle (VAB) in the ground forces.
The air parade, attended by several European planes, including the Greek Rafales, included for the first time the Reaper drone, which is being used in the Sahel to detect and kill jihadists as France completely refocuses its military presence on the African continent.
Around 125,000 police forces were mobilized across France to ensure the smooth running of the national day. “Yellow vests” have announced that they will demonstrate in the capital in the afternoon.
Fireworks will then light up the evening sky in France, which has been hit by a severe heatwave, with much of the territory threatened by fire.