Prime minister’s speech in Toulon

MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from French to English

Speech by the Prime minister Edouard Philippe, on the occasion of his visit among the units of the French Navy, at Toulon September 30, 2017, in the company of Florence Parly, minister for the Armed forces.

Only the spoken version shall be authentic

Madam minister,member of the european parliament, Arnaud DANJEAN,Mr. the chief-of-staff of the navy,Admiral,Gentlemen of the general officers,officers, petty Officers, district masters, and sailors, It is said, finally SENEQUE said that the Emperor Augustus would have erected a temple to honor the mistral, not this building of course, but the wind is so special, almost mythical, which after being inflated in France by the crossing of the North-West to the Mediterranean ” ubi vult spirat “, that is to say, blows where it wants to be like the crying out loud and your currency. A currency like many other currencies of the French army seems to be snapping like a banner that is hoisting to the face of the world

This symbol, it is one of those PCBS which are the largest warships after the ” Charles de Gaulle “. The buildings versatility, intended for joint, reliability are the pride of our country and save lives, those of our fellow citizens, as in Beirut in 2006, those of the foreign populations, such as during raids of combat helicopters off the libyan coast in 2011, today it is the ” Thunder “, our sister-ship, which provides assistance to our compatriots of the west Indies have been severely tested by the cyclones Irma and Maria.

I have had the opportunity to exchange yesterday by telephone with the president of the territorial collectivity of Saint-Martin and I can tell you that his words, the tone with which he pronounces the feeling that he feels in the face of your comrades on board the “Thunder” minister to the people are the best demonstrations of the recognition of the French authorities and populations in general in the work that you do.

You’re in circumstances that are the visible testimony of the national cohesion, the concrete expression of the solidarity unwavering that binds us to our fellow countrymen of the ultramarins.

Be on board the ” Mistral “, it is also a way more personal because since 2009, the city of le Havre, which is particularly dear to my heart is sponsoring officially this building. The Haven that has been created there are exactly 500 years old and whose maritime vocation since Francis I has never wavered.

You have before you a Prime minister who is not a sailor but who is a harbour, who grew up near the sea, which the sea has fed the inspiration that made me dream , a Prime minister who knows maybe with a little more passion and – if you’ll pardon the expression – perhaps with a little more guts that our country is a great maritime power through its ports, and by its great champions industrial and commercial, its Exclusive Economic Zones, the second in the world, an area equivalent to the United States and Canada combined.

As demonstrated, five years of research to support the 260 researchers of the project ” Océanide “, I quote, ” the sea is the engine history, the engine of the predominance and radiation, the accelerator of the economic and political development. “Our country has enormous strengths in this area, but these assets, they must continually defend, because unlike the Earth, does not live in the sea, it is not the sea. And when one considers, as you do, it especially wants to say that we exist as belonging to him, and certainly not that it belongs to you.

Officers, petty officers, district masters, and sailors, you are collectively the navy. In our old country, gallo-roman, the security is a noble task and prosperity sometimes a big word. The truth is that they are two sides of the same coin : us navy and the merchant navy, the security of the seas and prosperity, these are historically the two pillars on which the great nations developed.

Today, it is said that 80% of the physical trade of goods by sea, passes through the ports. It is quite probable that everything that we see here, of the uniform you wear, the metal with which it is constructed this building, the products that are in the hangar, that it is the subject of a number of transport by sea, of multiple unloading operations in a port. In short, the richness of our globalised world, globalised world, it is a richness which uses the sea, who uses the waterways, which means that our food security, it plays out in the sea, that our energy security, it plays out on the edge of the gulf of Guinea or the straits of Hormuz.

The Internet in the Twentieth century looks furiously to the richness of the electricity fairy of the Nineteenth century or the Twentieth, the Internet happens to 99% of the submarine cables. This movement of the pendulum millennium between defence and security, between trade and war, between war wing and war of course, you sailors of the State as soldiers of the sea, you symbolize him better than anyone else, you which implement the entire spectrum of our business-critical functions, from nuclear deterrence to the policing of fisheries through the projection of power or force.

This French model is effective, coherent, which brings together within a single organization, various features from the command of war operations such as operation “Harmattan” in 2011, to the action of State at sea, which is by essence inter-ministerial, this model is a good model.

And the challenges that it must face today are many. I you said just now, France is rich in its maritime spaces, but it isn’t like we have a field. As you often say, Admiral, that is not guarded is visited, which is visited is looted, and plundered’ll always be challenged. It is this comprehensive model that the navy implements

We have seen in the last three deployments of the “Charles de Gaulle” to fight against Daesh, always accompanied by at least a frigate, european, German, belgian, british, Italian. It is these capacities that constitute our power of attraction, our ability to aggregation of the wills of european defence. These capabilities are known, they are recognized, they are a comparative advantage, they are a talent, a talent that we need, that we want to make it grow.

Our armies are one of the pillars of our sovereignty, that of France and indeed of Europe. It is in this spirit that the president of the Republic has asked Florence PARLY, minister for the Armed forces, to conduct a strategic review in which the work was entrusted to mr DANJEAN. The conclusions of this strategic review, Mr. member of parliament, published in the days to come will guide a law on military programming. This law needs to be ambitious, innovative, bold, up to the stakes and expectations of the French.

Already, this ambition is translated in practice by an increase of the Defence budget, the Armed forces, € 1.8 billion in 2018. For 2019, this increase will be of € 1.7 billion. For 2020, this increase will be of € 1.7 billion, and the movement will continue until the end of the quinquennium, and not to make you happy, but because we need it.

Let us not deceive ourselves, the world rearms, the challenges are many

In the Face of reports of forces gross, the strategy is to oppose, as we have done throughout our history, the multipliers of power that’s smarter, stronger, with more solidarity. These force multipliers, however, are our sailors, our soldiers, our pilots, our engineers, who have designed these boats are splendid, our industrialists, who have made.

“Every power is weak unless you be united “, wrote Jean de la FONTAINE in “The Old man and his children” and believe me, Jean de LA FONTAINE is not a writer for children. Of this fable, I suggest you to shoot our epic common.

After this fitting, I must say very impressive, and before these four weeks of exercise in the sea that will keep you busy, I would like to tell you three things.

First, be demanding, demanding, demanding with the other.

I would also like to tell you to be proud of. You are, Ladies and Gentlemen, France. You are one of his faces, you are one of its strengths. It is a source of immense pride, this is of course also a huge responsibility.

And then, I would like to tell you to be confident. We live in a dangerous world

And you should be proud, demanding, and confident.

I can tell you that I would be right on board with you more than a few minutes. I’ll be right on board with you more than a few time but each one his mission ! And me, I have to get back to earth. Then, I wish you good mission, good sea and good wind !

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Please forgive us should the grammar and/or sentence structure is not be perfect.