Macron defends Canadair strategy against allegations of funding cuts

France – 16/07/2026: President Emmanuel Macron has rejected accusations by the Rassemblement National and La France insoumise that his government neglected the expansion of France’s Canadair fleet. In connection with severe wildfires, Macron said on Thursday that France had enabled the resumption of production of these amphibious firefighting aircraft at the European level. He was responding to a debate that directly links civil protection to the budget decisions of Gabriel Attal’s government in 2024.

The core of the criticism is factually documented: in 2024, an austerity decision by the government at the time cut EUR 52.7 million in payment appropriations from the Civil Protection programme. Parliamentary documents from the Senate state that, as a result, the Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Crisis Management had to abandon the planned order for two additional Canadair aircraft. The RN and LFI infer from this that the state weakened its preparedness for increasingly frequent vegetation fires.

Macron countered that the situation had been fundamentally different when he took office. The production line for successor models offered by De Havilland Canada had indeed been shut down after previous manufacturing ended. However, the year 2017 cited by him cannot be read as the start of new production. What was decisive instead was a European pooling of orders and financing, through which the manufacturer resumed production of the DHC-515.

France initially ordered two aircraft under the European RescEU framework; the European Union covers the majority of the costs. Procurement nevertheless suffers from long industrial lead times. The new aircraft will not be available in the short term, while the existing French Canadair fleet consists of twelve aircraft and is significantly ageing on average. Maintenance, spare parts and the number of operational aircraft available therefore remain central to the current wildfire season.

The controversy points to an institutional conflict of objectives. Budget cuts are decided during annual budget implementation, while the procurement of specialised aircraft must be planned years in advance. A subsequent political commitment replaces neither binding funding nor production capacity. The 2024 cut therefore does not explain the entire delay, but according to the Senate’s findings, it reduced the French order planned at the time.

Macron’s reference to the European initiative is accurate to that extent: without joint demand from several states, the resumption of production of a niche aircraft would hardly have come about. However, his account remains incomplete if it omits the subsequent national budget cuts. For French civil protection policy, credibility will now depend on the financing of additional aircraft, the maintenance of the existing fleet and the actual delivery schedule.