French defence minister warns of fresh arms race

French Defence Minister Florence Parly has said the global strategic context is "tough, violent and moving" and the arms race has "well and truly recovered".

"Every day the arms control regime seems to be weakening and proliferation is growing," Parly said on Monday, taking the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty as an example, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the French minister, the areas of conflict are multiplying.

"Everything becomes a pretext for the confrontation and each of our innovations and our technological progress multiply our possibilities, but expose us, too."

She noted that at a time when multilateralism and alliances are only ever needed, US decisions are sometimes "unpredictable", and uncertainties weigh on the US continued support for NATO, which remains the pillar of transatlantic collective defence.

Despite a picture that appears gloomy, there is also hope -- Europe's defence is progressing, she said.