In a speech to the armed forces, Emmanuel Macron will set new defense ambitions in the face of threats

"We are not here to stir up fears or worries, we are here to document them and provide answers," said the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, ahead of this speech.

It's the traditional address to the armed forces, on the eve of the national holiday. Emmanuel Macron will speak on the evening of Sunday, July 13, on the "defense efforts" to be made in the face of worsening threats and a crumbling world order. In the gardens of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, at the Hôtel de Brienne, the head of state will make "major announcements," according to the Elysée. Before this speech, the Minister of the Armed Forces defended: "We are not here to stir up fears or concerns, we are here to document them and provide answers," Sébastien Lecornu told La Tribune on Sunday .

To prepare minds, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Thierry Burkhard, painted a grim picture of the threats on Friday in a rare press conference, a few days after another unprecedented television intervention by the head of the DGSE, the foreign intelligence service, Nicolas Lerner. Based on the conclusions of the National Strategic Review to be published this Sunday, the highest-ranking French officer spoke of the "lasting" threat from Russia against European countries, the American disengagement, Ukraine where "the place of European countries in the world of tomorrow is at stake (...) , disinformation and hybrid attacks, and the fight against terrorism. Faced with this, "turning our backs" will not solve anything, according to him, "we must accept that we are indeed facing a change in strategic reference point."

Sébastien Lecornu, for his part, defended an autonomous defense model: "If we don't want to depend on anyone, this necessarily requires a new effort, not only budgetary, but also intellectual, moral and industrial," he said. In early July, before senators, he outlined avenues of effort: ground-to-air defense, munitions, electronic warfare means and even space, where Europe is at risk of "falling behind." "What concerns us most and creates a new budgetary need are technological breakthroughs" (AI, quantum, aircraft stealth, etc.), he told La Tribune on Sunday.