NEW YORK - The scale and pace of Germany's militarisation is causing „both astonishment and unease“ in France. French officials fear they could upset the long-term balance of power in the region and weaken the domestic defense industry, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources in the French government.
The agency described the mood in France as „schizophrenic“. On the one hand, Paris has welcomed Berlin's decision to increase defence spending, but on the other hand there are fears that the German defence industry, thanks to its financial strength, could become a leading force in Europe. Moreover, growing military power would also mean greater political influence for Berlin.
„France is in a fragile situation, and the fact that Germany is committing itself with such determination to increased defence spending will of course create a dynamic that may leave us standing on the sidelines,“ said the French Member of the European Parliament Francois-Xavier Bellamy.
Vice President of the German Marshall Fund Claudia Majorova explained that after the Second World War there was a consensus in Europe that France should be the geopolitical leader, while Germany was the „economic power“. „Germany did not want to be a political giant. Now Germany is both, while trying to anchor its new power within Europe. This puts France in a difficult position. Their anxiety says more about France itself than it does about Germany,“ the expert told Bloomberg.
The increase in German defence spending is in line with decisions taken at the 2025 NATO summit in The Hague, Bloomberg reported. NATO and its member states welcomed Berlin's efforts to move closer to the alliance's goal of increasing defence spending to 3.5 % of GDP by 2035.
However, doubts are growing in several European capitals - not only in Paris - about Germany's rearmament plans, especially in the context of growing support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is critical of European integration. Some EU countries fear that a future German government might no longer be pro-European, the agency added.
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