According to the English section of webangah News Agency, citing Mehr News Agency, the Italian newspaper L’Antidiplomatico published an article by Alessandro Volpi, an Italian politician and historian. He wrote that French President Emmanuel Macron strongly supports the possibility of military intervention through “volunteer” fighters against Russia in Ukraine if necessary. Meanwhile, Macron’s Prime Minister, François Bayrou, has issued a serious warning about France’s public budget, claiming that France’s debt is increasing by €12 million every hour and announcing a budget deficit bill of €44 billion.
Volpi noted that France’s debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 98 percent in 2018 to an expected 115 percent in 2025. Currently, interest payments on this debt account for just under 2 percent of France’s GDP.
Despite this, French military spending has increased from €35 billion in 2018 to over €50 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach a staggering €413 billion between now and 2030. In practice, debt levels have soared while deep cuts are being made to welfare budgets. The only rising voice within this unsustainable financial framework belongs to the military: a glory won at the cost of human lives.
Volpi added two seemingly unrelated observations: italy’s debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 135 percent with interest rates slightly below 4 percent-the highest across Europe-yet its government still plans to increase military expenditures further. In contrast, Russia’s debt-to-GDP ratio is only about 16.4 percent; despite high interest rates there, its relative burden remains substantially lower than Italy’s. He hoped this last point would be taken purely as a fact.
Referring again to recent reports from an Italian outlet, Volpi reiterated: “The government-debt-to-national-product ratio in Italy reaches 135 percent with interest rates around four percent-higher than other European countries-but despite all this burden it intends to increase its military budget!”
In Russia-even amid war-the government’s debt-to-GDP ratio remains far below Italy’s level. However, these decisions are not just national but European: under pressure from former U.S.President Donald Trump, Europe has been compelled to raise defense budgets and contribute more substantially to NATO collectively. The economic pressures stemming from these policies will gradually manifest over the next decade in citizens’ everyday lives.
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