Emmanuel Macron and Chief of the Defence Staff French Army General Pierre de Villiers attend the Bastille Day military parade on July 14, 2017
In a statement released today, the 60-year-old De Villers said that "in the current circumstances I see myself as no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe is necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country," asserting that he had tried to maintain armed forces capability for an increasingly difficult task within the financial constraints imposed on it, but was no longer able to sustain that. He added that Macron had accepted his resignation.
The open conflict between the head of state and the chief of armed forces started earlier this month when France’s Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin announced there would be military budget cuts. According to the proposed budget the Defense Ministry would have to find savings of just under $980 billion. The Interior and Foreign Ministries have also been hit budget with cuts. Darmanin told Le Parisien that the authorities “have found €4.5 billion in savings... solely in the national government” and promised that neither social security nor local authorities “will come into it.”
One thing that the globalist Macron, a supporters of billionaire George Soros' global government projects, will not be cutting is money for France's out of control immigrant communities.
In a surprisingly prompt public response to De Villers' resignation, Macron said "I have made commitments, I am your boss," he said in a speech to dozens of top army officers and their families.
“If the [Armed Forces] chief of staff has an issue with the President of the Republic, the chief of staff will be changed,” Macron added in an interview for Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
Army officers of whatever rank are expected to obey orders from superior officers. So in substance the president is within his rights to restate his authority… But the way he did it will leave marks. "You cannot publicly question a military leader like that in front of his subordinates,” former chief of the French armed forces Henri Bentégeat told Le Monde newspaper. “When Macron attends the first ceremony for a soldier killed because of a lack of equipment, all the criticism will be directed at him."
Meanwhile, in a hint that further rebellion awaits France's youngest president, foreign affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian praised De Villiers on Wednesday, saying “He is a great soldier, one of great integrity and intelligence.”
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