gotchanewsdaily.com 
All European countries are massively ramping up defense spending, and all are facing similar issues on where to find the cash to do so.
In January, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte called on European nations to redirect “a small fraction” of spending on pensions, health and social security to the military. But he’s mostly faced pushback so far, with countries such as Italy and even those closer to Russia like Lithuania saying no.
Aggressively going after the welfare state could spark fireworks in France, where Macron’s past attempts to tweak the country’s social safety nets, most notably on pensions, were met with mass protests and strikes.
Laurent Jacobelli, a lawmaker from the far-right National Rally who works on defense policy, accused Macron of “pushing cynicism to the point of using [the Ukraine war] tragedy to justify future social destructions and abysmal deficits.” The National Rally’s presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, told Le Figaro that she is concerned Macron will increase the French debt to fund his defense ambitions.
France’s left-wing opposition parties and trade unions are also worried. They would rather see tax increases on the rich and large corporations than a reduction in other budget lines.
“We have to stop the psychosis that is looking to be installed in the minds of workers, installing the idea that we have to cut back on our social rights to finance military spending,” Sophie Binet, the secretary-general of the powerful CGT union, told TV station France 2.
