NATIONAL DEFENSE STRUCTURE
According to the Article 5 of the Constitution, the President of France is the guarantor of France's territorial integrity. Article 15 states that the President of France is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
Article 21 states that the Prime Minister is responsible for National Defence. The responsibility of organising and mobilising the armed forces is with the Minister of Defence. Earlier there was Compulsory National Service of one year for 18-year-old men. Now, it has been abolished. A compulsory day of defence preparation has been introduced for all young men and women aged between 16 and 18 years.
Since 2002, there has been considerable increase in defence expenditure. The expenditure amounts to about 2.5% of GDP.
FRANCE AND NATO
This European country is one of the founding members of the Atlantic Alliance that was created by the 1949 Washington Treaty. France left the NATO structure in the year 1966. The Atlantic Alliance symbolises strategic links between Europe, the United States and Canada. France contributes in a big way by means of personnel and funding to NATO. France provides 5,000 of its troops for Alliance operations. France is of the opinion that the NATO structure and European Defence Structure Complement each other.
THE FRENCH DEFENSE FORCES
The land army of France controls the physical and human assets of France. The missions of the National Defence include a projection requirement. The 2006 French Defense Budget is around $41.5 billion. Around 455,000 people are a part of the French Defense Department. An interesting fact about national defense of France is that France at present has the largest all-volunteer military force in Europe.
The Air Force participates in numerous defence tasks. The Gendarmerie looks after public safety and law enforcement.
The composition of the national defence of France is : Army - 38%, Navy - 12%, Air Force - 18%, Gendarmerie - 28% and other services - 4%. A significant number of 36,000 french troops are deployed overseas.
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