Varces: President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday unveiled a new national military service programme as France seeks to strengthen its armed forces amid growing concerns over Russia’s threat to European nations beyond the war in Ukraine.
The programme will allow volunteers aged 18 and 19 to serve starting next year in a 10-month service scheme, Macron said during a speech at the Varces military base in the French Alps. Young volunteers will serve within France’s mainland and overseas territories but will not be deployed in military operations abroad.
Earlier this year, Macron announced plans to allow French youth to serve voluntarily, stressing that conscription, abolished in 1996, will not be reintroduced. He highlighted Russia’s actions in Ukraine as a risk to European security, saying on RTL radio, “The day that you send a signal of weakness to Russia — which for 10 years has made a strategic choice to become an imperial power again, that is, advance wherever we are weak — it will continue to advance.”
Macron has pledged 6.5 billion euros (USD 7.6 billion) in extra military spending over the next two years, aiming to reach 64 billion euros in annual defence spending by 2027, double the 32 billion euros spent when he became president in 2017.
France currently maintains around 200,000 active personnel and over 40,000 reservists, making it the second-largest military in the EU after Poland. The government aims to increase reservists to 100,000 by 2030.
Gen. Fabien Mandon, France’s new army chief of staff, last week warned that the nation must prepare for potential conflict with Russia, stating the country may have to “lose its children,” prompting an outcry across the political spectrum. He cited Russia’s annexation of 20 per cent of Georgia in 2008, Crimea in 2014, and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, asserting that Russia is organising for a confrontation with NATO by 2030.
Macron clarified that the new national service volunteers will not be sent to the front line, saying, “We must immediately dispel any confusion that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine. That’s not at all what this is about.”
France is not alone in bolstering military capacity in Europe. Germany is expanding voluntary military service, pending parliamentary approval. Belgium’s defence minister recently invited 17-year-olds to sign up next year, targeting 500 candidates aged 18–25 for a programme starting in September. Poland is rolling out a new voluntary military training scheme, aiming to train 100,000 volunteers annually from 2027 to build a robust reserve force.
Across Europe, ten countries maintain compulsory military service: Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden. Norway, though not an EU member, mandates military service for both men and women, with service periods ranging from two months in Croatia to 19 months in Norway.
With PTI inputs