BRUSSELS, November 12. /TASS/. Germany’s military buildup is raising concerns among politicians in France, which risks losing the status of a predominant European military power, Politico Europe wrote.

While, by 2029, Germany is expected to raise its defense budget to €153 billion, France plans to spend just €80 billion on defense by 2030. Germany has much more leeway to finance its expenditures thanks to lower debt levels. And, with the Bundeswehr’s procurement plans amounting to some €400 billion, the largest share of new contracts is going to Germany’s own defense manufacturers.

"It’s halfway between vigilance and threat," a French defense official told Politico referring to the sentiment among French politicians. "It will be difficult to work with them because they will be extremely dominant," the official added. He also joked Germany won’t need to invade Alsace and Moselle like it did in 1940 because "they (Germany - TASS) can just buy it."

The latest friction is over the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), Europe’s sixth-generation fighter jet program involving France, Germany and Spain, Politico explained. Amid squabbling over whether France or Germany gets a larger share of the project, Berlin is eying potential cooperation with Sweden and Britain or may press ahead with Spain alone. "That prospect is alarming Paris," Politico wrote.

An EU official described Germany’s rearmament as "telluric," or earth-moving, as the country — once Europe’s economic powerhouse — is now transforming into a military-industrial power, with France clinging to its status as a nuclear state and Poland emerging as a conventional heavyweight, Politico continued. "In Brussels, that realignment poses a test: Can the EU channel this momentum into common structures, or will it deepen the bloc’s defense fragmentation?," the edition asks rhetorically.