From Pierre Tran, Defense News:  The French Defense Ministry must cut staff by an annual 2.5 percent and slash spending by 7 percent in 2013, and 4 percent in 2014 and 2015, respectively, as part of the government’s budget reduction efforts , a June 28 prime minister’s letter to ministries said.

The 2012 defense budget totaled 31.72 billion euros ($39.52 billion), excluding pensions, with 293,198 employees, of which 224,595 are military and 68,603 civilian.

From Deutsche-Welle:  The cuts in ministerial staff were unveiled as a plan to offset new President Francois Hollande’s campaign promise to create 60,000 new posts in the country’s education sector and 5,000 new staff members in the police force, the defense ministry and the justice system during his five-year term.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said most government ministries would be subjected to 2.5 percent cuts in staff numbers year-on-year from 2013 through 2015.

"The creation of new jobs will be limited to education, the police, the defense ministry and the judiciary," Ayrault wrote in a communiqué.  (graphic: French Ministry of Defense and Veteran Affairs)