French military parades for Bastille Day, gets budget boost
PARIS (AP) – France’s military is getting a budget boost from President Emmanuel Macron as soldiers prepare to march through Paris on Bastille Day.
Fighter jets will perform acrobatics over Paris and troops will parade Saturday down the Champs-Elysees. Macron is presiding over the event, where Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is the guest of honor.
Macron signed a new military budget on the eve of Saturday’s parade, aimed at lifting defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product as promised to NATO. The rise had long been planned, but came after a contentious NATO summit in which President Donald Trump assailed allies for not spending enough on defense.
rance’s President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech after signing the armed forces annual law budget, at the Hotel de Brienne, in Paris, France, Friday, July 13, 2018. (Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool Photo via AP).
About 110,000 security forces are being deployed across France to protect Bastille Day celebrations, after a 2016 attack in Nice killed 86.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron, right, shakes hand with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, prior to a State dinner, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Friday, July 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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