France to hit 2% NATO spending target in 2024, defence minister says

"France will reach the objective of 2% set by NATO in 2024," Lecornu told reporters on his arrival at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels. With 413 billion euros ($443.40 billion) planned for the next seven years, France's 2024-2030 Military Programming Law has substantially increased defence spending.

France will this year meet a NATO alliance target to spend 2% of its gross domestic product on defence, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump

suggested last weekend that Washington might not protect countries in the alliance that did not spend enough on their own defence. "France will reach the objective of 2% set by NATO in 2024," Lecornu told reporters on his arrival at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels.

With 413 billion euros ($443.40 billion) planned for the next seven years, France's 2024-2030 Military Programming Law has substantially increased defence spending. The new budget had initially expected to hit 2% of GDP from 2025. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that the transatlantic alliance's European states would invest a combined total of $380 billion in defence this year, taking their spending as a whole to an estimated 2% of their combined GDP in 2024 compared to 1.85% in 2023.

Eighteen allies out of the 31 will spend 2% of their GDP on defence this year, Stoltenberg said. ($1 = 0.9314 euros)

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