French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting with defense industry officials on Tuesday to take stock of the transition to a “war economy” and urge them to “take risks,” especially in arms exports.
The President of France (Elysée Palace) announced this Monday that Macron will receive nine representatives of the defense industry after asking in June to move to a “war economy” in the face of a Russian invasion of Ukraine and the need to send more and more weapons to Kiev.
Since then, there have been several meetings with manufacturers with the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu.
Given the incentive to develop the defense industry, the goal is to produce more and more, and to prepare the French army in the event of a major conflict.
This time, the head of state himself is gathering those responsible for “cultural change,” the source at the Elysee Palace emphasized.
Among them are Nicolas Chamussy (Nexter), Eric Trappier (Dassault Aviation), Pierre-Eric Pommelle (Naval Group), Patrice Kane (Thales) and Guillaume Faury (Airbus), according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The President will obviously reassure manufacturers that the state will continue these defense activities, and therefore we will continue to invest in national programs,” which guarantees them “visibility in relation to national orders,” the same source added.
On the part of the state, this means “increased risk”, which will simplify its procedures and reduce its specifications in order to “get more, cheaper and faster,” said the Elysee Palace.
This increase in risks “must be accompanied by the producers themselves” in the case of exports both to the European Union and “much further,” the president stressed.
“We are asking manufacturers” to be “even more aggressive in attracting new export customers” in order to “support over time” these materials “which we produce quickly and in large quantities,” he concluded.