Emmanuel Macron defends his Canadair water bomber policy in the face of opposition criticism

While visiting the Fontainebleau forest, which had been ravaged by a major fire, Emmanuel Macron responded to criticism from the National Rally and La France Insoumise regarding the French fleet of Canadair water bombers. The president asserted that his government had restarted production of these aircraft, which had been halted before he took office.

“In 2017, we were no longer producing Canadair aircraft. There was no controversy at the time about whether it was two, four, or six. We were producing zero,” the President of the Republic declared. He also recalled that this relaunch had been made possible thanks to European cooperation, with a joint order from six countries aimed at reviving the industrial sector.

The National Rally and La France Insoumise denounce the budget cuts.

These statements come as the National Rally (RN) and La France Insoumise (LFI) accuse Gabriel Attal's government of having cut more than €50 million in funding allocated to civil security in 2024, leading, according to them, to the cancellation of the order for two Canadair water bombers. Arnaud Saint-Martin, a member of parliament from La France Insoumise, also denounced a broken promise of a complete fleet renewal announced in 2022, as well as the savings made on the civil security budget.

France currently has twenty water bomber aircraft, divided between twelve Canadairs, capable of scooping water directly from bodies of water, and eight Dash 8s, which must be refueled on the ground. The opposition's criticism comes in a context marked by numerous forest fires and a recurring debate on firefighting strategies linked to heatwaves.