PARIS, July 19 (Xinhua) -- France's armed forces chief Pierre de Villiers resigned Wednesday, in a move to protest against President Emmanuel Macron's decision to trim defense budget spending.
"Under the current circumstances I see myself no longer able to guarantee the robust defense force I believe necessary to guarantee the protection of France and the French people, today and tomorrow, and to sustain the aims of our country," de Villiers said in a statement.
"Therefore, I took my responsibility to present my resignation to the president, and he accepted it," he added.
At a parliamentary committee hearing last week, the 60-year-old top military official criticized the government's plan to cut defense ministry expenditure by 850 million euros (980.4 million U.S. dollars) this year in order to help the nation meet the deficit target of 3 percent.
On Friday, de Villiers wrote on his Facebook, "no one deserves to be blindly followed," referring to the French president.
As the row of his army bosses escalated, Macron rebuked, "I have made commitments, I am your chief. I don't need any comment."
