“We are entering a war economy.” On June 13, 2022, at the opening of the Eurosatory arms fair in Villepinte, near Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron, for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four months earlier, had called on the defense industry to “move faster, rethink the pace, ramp-ups and margins in order to more rapidly rebuild what is essential for our armed forces, our allies or those whom we want to support.”
Three and a half years later, Macron remains unsatisfied, and he made that clear to industry leaders on Thursday, January 15, at the Istres air base in the southern Bouches-du-Rhône department, during his New Year’s address to the military. “A lot of efforts have been made. I acknowledged it; we have doubled, sometimes tripled, our production capacities and rates. Let’s be honest with ourselves. Are we truly operating under a war economy? The answer is no. Because if we were at war, I would like to think we would not be producing as we are now,” declared the commander-in-chief.
Macron cited drones as an example where “we are lagging behind.” He noted, “On one hand, the Ukrainians have displayed remarkable innovation,” but also, “partners and manufacturers from other countries have been faster than us and perhaps have not looked down on this sector as much as we have,” the president criticized. “We do not face the same event-driven pressure” as the Ukrainians, Macron admitted, to explain France’s delay, but he “looks at what the Ukrainians have managed to do.” In 2025, they produced 4 million drones compared to just a few thousand in France.
Careful what you wish for. Macron is very much like Thatcher.