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New chief of France's armed forces named
Last Updated: 2017-07-20 10:08 | Xinhua
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General Francois Lecointre was named the new chief of the French armed forces, government spokesman Christophe Castaner announced Wednesday.

Lecointre, a member of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's cabinet, replaced Pierre de Villiers who decided to quit office over a dispute concerning cuts to the defense budget.

Castaner said the new armed forces chief would take up his duties in the new role on Thursday.

Quoting French President Emmanuel Macron, Castaner called Lecointre "a hero recognized as such in the army," and a general, "whose long-term action" would "accompany the great project that we carry for our army."

The 55-year-old top military official served in Bosnia during the wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. He also headed a mission in Mali to help fight Islamic extremists.

Lecointre's nomination follows a row between Macron and the outgoing military chief, who had criticized the government's plan to cut defense ministry expenditure by 850 million euros (980 million U.S. dollars) this year.

Earlier on Wednesday, 60-year-old de Villiers resigned, saying, "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."

In his first political test at home, Macron, the youngest head of state in France's modern history stressed that despite the planned spending cut, the defense budget "will protect the country."

 

"The President of the Republic has reaffirmed his commitment to the gradual rise of the armed forces budget to two percent of gross domestic product by 2025, with a significant first step in 2018," the government spokesman said.

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