Friday

29th Mar 2024

Ticker

France to slim down military

France is set to cut 24,000 defence jobs in an effort to reduce state spending by €60 billion, reports The Telegraph. France has 280,000 people in the sector, including 130,000 in the army, 40,000 in the navy and 55,000 in the airforce. The defence budget was €31 billion in 2012.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us