PARIS — The French government will propose creating a new legal framework to let the state ignore or adapt national laws when the country faces a threat, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced Wednesday.

The objective is to recalibrate “a state designed for peacetime to a world that is no longer entirely at peace,” he told lawmakers in the National Assembly, without defining the threat.

“This is certainly not about undermining the rule of law; it is about giving the state the means to be effective in times of crisis,” he added.

The new status — described as a “national security state of alert” — could be activated without the parliament’s approval. It would allow the state to stop applying certain regulations related to construction, heavy truck traffic, public procurement and the storage of ammunition and fuel to facilitate military mobility, faster weapons purchases and boosting production.

Lecornu also told MPs that France would earmark €8.5 billion for munitions by 2030, create a new platform to purchase shells and missiles in bulk, and incentivize the civilian industry to enter the defense sector.

Lecornu’s address comes as France’s war economy — meaning an industry shift to a war footing in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine — has fizzled.

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have also shown that Western arsenals are not fit to fight against cheap drones. Lecornu is convening a meeting on the war economy on Thursday.

The U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran has had a direct impact on France, which lost one soldier last week to Iranian counter-attacks. France has 5,000 troops in the region and has deployed additional warships, warplanes and air defense systems as it has defense agreements with nations such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

New legal status, old playbook

Working out ways of responding to emergencies is nothing new in France.

A 1950s law on a state of emergency was activated after the Nov. 13, 2015 terror attacks; it allows for searches and house arrests without a court decision. A “public health state of emergency” approved during the Covid pandemic was used to restrict freedom of movement and assembly without parliament’s approval.

The new regime proposed by Lecornu would allow the government “in the event of threats and when circumstances require it, to temporarily adapt our rules to speed up decision-making, simplify procedures, and remove the obstacles that are currently slowing down the implementation of our strategic projects.”

He did not provide more details, but added: “This is the rationale behind other measures the government will propose regarding the fight against drones, the management of strategic stockpiles and reserves.”

The new measure will be included in the updated military planning law, which will be presented to the Council of Ministers on April 8. The bill will be assessed by the National Assembly starting May 5, then by the Senate starting June 1.

Priority on munitions

“The most urgent need is, of course, munitions. We plan to invest an additional €8.5 billion in procurement between 2026 and 2030, on top of the €16 billion allocated in the 2023 military planning law,” Lecornu said.

The state will launch a new platform called France Munitions that will purchase in bulk for the French armed forces as well as allies and export customers — with funding from both the government and private investors. France Munitions will function as a special purpose vehicle, a legal entity created for a specific task. As previously reported by POLITICO, the idea was first pitched by MP Jean-Louis Thiériot.

The priorities will be air defense and early-warning systems, as well as interceptor and kamikaze drones, with a focus on enabling mass, fast and cheap production, Lecornu said.

France has been on the receiving end of Iran’s cheap Shahed drones in the Middle East and has had to shoot them down with much more expensive missiles in the past few weeks.

Several French companies are capable of producing thousands of interceptor drones, Lecornu told lawmakers, adding he will inaugurate a new factory soon with French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin.

While he did not name them, Harmattan AI and Alta Ares are often mentioned by French military officers as promising startups to make interceptor drones en masse.

On top of signing contracts with weapons-makers, France wants to help civilian companies invest in defense. Lecornu announced a new €300 million fund to ease cooperation between military contractors and the chemical and automotive industries.

The economy and defense ministries will make more announcements later this week.