General François Lecointre has been appointed the new head of the French army. <br /><br />General Lecointre has been appointed as new French Army’s Chief of Defense Staff. pic.twitter.com/hJxCvee9AV— Harry Boone (@towersight) July 19, 2017<br /><br />He replaces General Pierre de Villiers who resigned over planned budget cuts. <br /><br />Lecointre is a career military officer with a distinguished RECORD having led the French mission in Mali and served in Sarajevo during the Balkan wars in the 1990s<br /><br />Christophe Castaner is the French government spokesperson:“General Lecointre is a hero, a renowned hero in the army, a hero who knows how to fight, who freed French soldiers especially in 1995 during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina where our armed forces were mobilised.”<br /><br />The outgoing head General Pierre de Villiers said he could no longer maintain “the durability of the army model.”<br /><br />Macron comes under fire after French army chief resigns https://t.co/NKWWl7DTro pic.twitter.com/rz2kxoQX0F— The Local France (@TheLocalFrance) July 19, 2017<br /><br />De Villiers is said to be furious about the €850m cuts to the force for 2017. <br /><br />Adopting a colourful tone the officer informed a parliamentary committee that they should heed his stance.<br /><br />French Armed Forces chief quits in row over budget cuts with #Macron https://t.co/3eQeCUO3LK #army #FrenchArmy pic.twitter.com/ZsDOUB0o0F— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) July 19, 2017<br /><br />The 60-year-old was appointed head of the army in 2014 by previous president François Hollande.<br />
