A limited form of military service will be re-introduced in France, after conscription was phased out 25 years ago.
This feels more ominous than it would have decades ago, what with the possibility of escalation of Russian aggression.
For now, the plan proposes young men and women volunteering for a paid 10 months of military training.
This will begin from summer 2026, with 18- and 19-year-olds targeted.
There is space for 3,000 people next year.
This is expected to grow to 50,000 in the next ten years.
France currently has around 200,000 military personnel and 47,000 reservists. Of course, French military chiefs are delighted.
Payment is said to be at least €800 a month, compared to sums of €2,0000 promised monthly to 17-year-olds by the Belgian government.
Thus, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and now Germany are investing in similar schemes. But there are also countries which never phased out their compulsory schemes, like Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Greece, and Switzerland.
“The only way to avoid danger is to prepare for it,” President Emmanuel Macron said while announcing the plan at an infantry base near Grenoble.
“We need to mobilize, mobilizing the nation to defend itself, to be ready and remain respected”, he stated firmly.
Make no mistake: “war is in the present tense”, Macron warned.
Despite unfortunate comments made by newly appointed chief-of-staff, General Fabien Mandon, urging people to prepare opinion for the possibility of “losing children” in war in the “spirit of sacrifice” in the next three to four years, French public opinion is surprisingly positive: 73% support the measure, and even 60% of young people do, although they expressed misgivings about their own financial situations and the cost the scheme will present in comparison.
In 1996, Jacques Chirac phased out military service, in the years following the fall of the Iron Curtain, when peace was agreed upon in Europe.
But fighting for France has always been built into French identity: “Every Frenchman is a soldier and is bound to the defence of the homeland”, reads the 1798 conscription law.
In his first term, President Macron himself attempted to materialize his own dream of a “Universal National Service” after France was deeply shaken by the terrorist attacks of the 2010s. It was merely a four-week course in civic responsibilities and practical training, but it garnered little interest and was ultimately dropped as too expensive.
A cold wind sweeps across Europe as countries revamp their military service plans: now Germany
