France, Jan. 20 -- President Emmanuel Macron has announced plans to increase France's defence budget by a third for the next seven years.He said he would ask parliament to approve a new budget of €400 billion for the period 2024-2030, up from €295 billion for 2019-2025.

The announcement came just one day after French trade unions mobilised record numbers of protesters against pension reform, scheduled to cover the same period to 2030.

If the timing of the spending increase could be seen as indelicate in the light of thisweek'snationwide protests against proposals to save money bymakingthe French work longer, the coincidence isunfortunate rather than provocative.

The president was in the south-west town of Mont-de-Marsan on ...