"In the age of predators, no one can remain motionless": a particularly warlike lexical field during the president's speech to the army

While the French chief of staff assured last Friday that Russia had "identified France as its main adversary in Europe," Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday an increased "war effort," calling on parliamentarians to take responsibility.

In his " speech to the armed forces " on Sunday, July 13, Emmanuel Macron donned his war chief costume to explain how he intended to finance what he calls "the war effort" , notably by proposing a doubling of the defense budget in 10 years, increasing it from 32 billion euros in 2017 to "64 billion euros in 2027" .

To lessen the element of surprise, the Élysée Palace had largely taken charge of preparing the ground with the media in recent days. Chief of the Defence Staff Thierry Burkhard also provided pre-sales service on Friday, July 11, by explaining that France was openly designated by Moscow as "its main adversary in Europe." Sébastien Lecornu, the Minister of the Armed Forces, had himself spoken in La Tribune Dimanche , a few hours before this very solemn and serious speech, delivered by Emmanuel Macron from the gardens of the Hôtel de Brienne.

But "the existential Russian threat" isn't the only reason the army chief puts forward to justify this massive additional spending. Emmanuel Macron also lists the new forms of conflict the country is now facing, such as, according to him, artificial intelligence, drones, and new areas of conflict such as space, cyberspace, and the ocean floor.

The head of state does not hesitate to play on fears by using the lexical field of war, with this little anthology: "To be free in this world, we must be feared. To be feared, we must be powerful," the president asserts. Or again: "Everyone must be at their combat post" and "in the age of predators, no one can remain motionless."

This stance allows the president to attempt to reassert himself on the national political scene as a warlord and to position himself internationally as the leader of Europe. But beyond budgetary restrictions, nothing is decided politically, since it is Parliament that will have to approve his additional spending, and without a majority, the Macronist camp will have to convince.

It's not so certain that defense could represent one of the very few issues that can achieve consensus on the benches of the National Assembly. But it is nevertheless an issue that could create a majority to adopt these additional credits, with votes ranging from the Socialist Party to the National Rally. Hence this very clear and direct call for parliamentary responsibility launched by Emmanuel Macron.

But it will still be necessary to convince, even if it seems a foregone conclusion for the far left of the political spectrum. On Sunday evening, LFI, through Éric Coquerel , the president of the finance committee, castigated the president's "extremely bellicose" speech and "an arms race to the detriment of the fight against global warming."