Edouard Philippe Faces Corruption Probe as France Boosts Defence Budget

An investigating magistrate opened a formal corruption probe into Edouard Philippe on Tuesday, while the National Assembly was voting an additional EUR 36 billion onto the country's six-year military programming law and a French shipbuilder was beating two NATO competitors to a Swedish frigate contract.

The Parquet National Financier confirmed to AFP that a juge d'instruction will now investigate Philippe -- the mayor of Le Havre and the Horizons party's declared candidate for the 2027 presidential election -- on four counts: misappropriation of public funds, favouritism, illegal conflict of interest and concussion, the French legal category for corruption by a public official. The case is rooted in Philippe's stewardship of Le Havre. A whistleblower first brought the allegations to the PNF in September 2023; police raids followed in April 2024, the whistleblower then filed a criminal complaint with civil-party status in June 2025, and Tuesday's transfer to a magistrate moves the inquiry into the judicial-instruction phase. Philippe, a former French prime minister, has denied the allegations from the outset.

In the same chamber that approved the original 2024-2030 military programming law, the National Assembly voted 440 to 122 to top it up by EUR 36 billion, bringing planned defence spending to EUR 436 billion by the end of the decade. The vote united the governing camp with the National Rally and the Socialists, while La France Insoumise and the Greens opposed. Defence Minister Catherine Vautrin said the revision allowed France to respond to "the acceleration of the threat," citing lessons drawn from Ukraine and the Middle East.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu used his appearance in parliament the same day to tell deputies that the EUR 6 billion in documented savings underpinning the budget would need to be updated to absorb the rising costs of the Middle East war. He said the French should prepare for a possible resumption of fighting and that "hybrid and direct wars will multiply" in the period ahead, and announced a press conference on Thursday devoted to the economic consequences of the conflict.

Sweden chose Naval Group on Tuesday for its four-frigate FDI programme, a deal worth more than 40 billion Swedish kronor (USD 4.2 billion) that beat bids from Spain's Navantia and Britain's Babcock International. Deliveries begin in 2030 with one ship per year thereafter. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the purchase triples Sweden's air-defence capability and is Stockholm's largest single defence procurement since the Gripen fighter. The contract restores France's frigate-export pipeline at a moment when its own Marine Nationale is competing for slots at the same shipyards.

A parliamentary commission separately published its report on the 2022 cereulide-toxin contamination of infant formula. The inquiry found that France's food-safety system was unprepared for emerging hazards and that manufacturers, particularly Nestle, delayed recalls -- a finding that arrives ahead of expected regulatory tightening for industrial baby-food production.