The French Government plans to distribute a survival manual among its citizens for crises such as an industrial accident, an epidemic, a weather event, a cyberattack, or an armed conflict. The news, revealed by the radio station Europe 1, has created some alarm due to President Emmanuel Macron's repeated references to "the Russian threat."
The survival manual could be distributed before the summer if the government of François Bayrou finally gives its approval. The initiative has been compared to the decision of the Swedish Government to distribute five million leaflets among its population warning of the risk of "armed conflicts, terrorism, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns."
The French booklet, 20 pages long, is divided into three parts, with instructions on "how to protect yourself and those around you," what to do in the case of an "imminent threat" (including a list of emergency phone numbers, radio channels, and a warning to keep windows closed if the threat is nuclear), and instructions on how to participate in community defense (by enrolling in reserve units or volunteering for the fire department).
The manual also recommends preparing survival kits, with at least six liters of water, dozens of canned foods, flashlights, batteries, and a basic first aid kit with medications such as paracetamol, saline solutions, and band-aids, as detailed by Europe 1.
"The purpose of this document is to ensure the resilience of the population in the face of all kinds of crises, whether natural, technological, or security-related," a government spokesperson told the French radio.
"This is by no means intended to prepare the population for the prospect of war, unlike the Swedish case," sources from The General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN), the body ultimately responsible for the manual's distribution, told The Figaro. The same sources stated that the distribution of the leaflets is still in the "validation" phase by the Government.
The first news about the "survival manual" coincided with Emmanuel Macron's visit to the Luxeuil-Saint-Sauveur military base, where he announced the creation of two new squadrons of Rafale fighter jets equipped with cruise missiles to strengthen French nuclear deterrence. "Our country and our continent will have to continue defending themselves and preparing if we want to avoid war," declared the French president, after reviewing the troops, surrounded by dozens of soldiers and Mirage jets.