PRESIDENT Jacques Chirac will announce a revolution in the "French armed forces when he addresses the nation on television" tomorrow night, writes Kathryn Hone. His proposals may include scaling down the army to half its size and phasing out military conscription, turning the forces into a career army.
Such a move would end a tradition of a largely conscripted army in France which has remained almost unbroken since the French Revolution. It is likely to be politically explosive as the expected closure of dozens of military bases, across the country will have severe effects on local economies.
Mr Chirac will make his declaration after hearing the findings of a "strategic committee" of officers and civil servants. In an unusual move to try to head off army opposition to the plan, the Defence Minister, Mr Charles Millon, will address 500 senior army officers in Paris on Friday.
The reform is motivated by the need to cut France's defence budget, which is 189.6 billion francs (£25.28 billion) for this year. But it also intends to respond to the new post Cold War defence needs. The French no longer see the need to be armed against possible invasion from the east, but rather to have highly trained specialised units which can take part in international operations, such as in Bosma or Rwanda.
Le Monde last week reported that ground troops would be cut from the current 240,000 to around 130,000, leading to the closure of between 100 and 150 garrisons across the country. The total number of defence forces was 409,000 last year, compared with 254,000 in Britain's wholly professional army.