Starting January 1 next year, German authorities will gradually contact 700,000 young people born after 2008, take their medical records and fill out a form informing them of their intention to serve in the military.
The idea is to get some of these young people to voluntarily say yes and start training them in batches of 5,000 a year. If there are not enough volunteers, the measure considers the possibility of reinstating a type of compulsory military service in the country.
As such, debates over Europe’s major economies are becoming increasingly intense and even heated in countries such as Belgium, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, France, and even Portugal. Is Miri yes or Miri no? European countries that already have NATO include the last two countries to join NATO. Sweden abolished NATO in 2010 but reinstated it in 2017. The other is Finland. In Finland, we had never thought of abolishing NATO.
A model inspired by Sweden
The announcement from Berlin this Thursday comes after months of negotiations between the two ruling parties, the Chancellor’s Christian Democratic Party and the CDU. Friedrich Merzand led by the Social Democratic Party of the SPD berber bath and Lars Klingbeil.
German journalists who had access to the agreement cited “Russia’s imperialist impulses” as the reason. Vladimir Putin” and suspicions that it is considering attacking Northern Europe by 2030.
“Currently, there is already a hybrid attack orchestrated by Moscow,” the journalist wrote this week. peter carstens to the page of frankfurter allgemeine;One of the country’s leading newspapers. “These attacks are focused on damaging critical infrastructure[in NATO’s east]and undermining social cohesion,” he added, calling for urgent action in the face of contract killings, espionage and sabotage. “Against all of this, Germany, Europe and NATO must prepare their defenses as soon as possible.”
In other words, Germany’s intention is to increase its arsenal from the current 34,000 uniformed soldiers to 200,000, and to be able to mobilize all of its personnel in a matter of hours if it has to go into defense mode.
According to the agreement signed by the CDU and the SPD (officially known as the Military Service Modernization Act), the idea is to attract 5,000 volunteers a year by offering a monthly salary of 2,600 euros and various additional financial aids.
In addition, volunteers will serve for a period of time ranging from a minimum of seven months to a maximum of 23 months, and will, in principle, undergo basic training to enable them to carry out rearguard duties in the event of a national emergency. In other words, joining the program does not necessarily mean starting a long-term military career. They become what is known in Germany as “temporary soldiers” or SaZ.
This Sunday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave an interview.
Women are included in the scheme, widely known as “Volunteer Through Charm,” but they do not have to fill out the form, which will begin to be submitted from January 1. This means that if there is a shortage of volunteers and Germany has to implement compulsory military service, women will be exempt. Therefore, you do not need to register if you do not wish to do so.
But even if this obligation, known as compulsory military service by necessity, is eventually imposed, it will not affect all young people. According to an agreement reached between the governing parties, inspired by the Swedish model, if the number of volunteers is not met, they will be forced to be selected based on a “random procedure” from among all candidates deemed “suitable”. Only some, but not all, will be called up (in Sweden, this rate is around 10% per year).
However, the German constitution will continue to consider conscientious objection to military service and the performance of civil service in cases where a summoned person refuses to wear a uniform.
Belgium
The decision adopted by Berlin came days after Belgian authorities began sending letters to the country’s young people inviting them to try their hand at a military career in 2026. Alternatively, if that failed, they were invited to participate in a year’s worth of voluntary military service.
The letter, addressed to around 150,000 young men and women aged 17, called on young people to take advantage of a “unique opportunity” to learn values such as discipline and teamwork. The letter also reveals that from next year selected recruits will receive a net monthly salary of 2,000 euros for the duration of their service.
According to the newspaper free I remembered in spring country A few days ago, the Belgian Ministry of Defense currently manages to recruit around 2,800 soldiers per year. This figure is barely enough to maintain the current strength of 24,600 soldiers, a figure that is insufficient for the country’s military goals from now until the end of the century.
Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, France
Meanwhile, in Portugal, discussions have intensified over the possibility of reinstating compulsory military service, which was abolished in 2004, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Defenders of the bill argue that the measure will not only promote civility and social cohesion, but also better prepare society in the face of any kind of crisis. Opponents, on the other hand, point to high logistics costs, the impact on personal freedom, and the need to modernize the country’s military with highly qualified professionals rather than mass recruitment.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria, one of the most militarized former Eastern Bloc countries and with a professional army since abolishing compulsory military service in 2008, faces a 22% personnel shortage. Given the delay in recruitment despite recent salary increases, the Minister of Defense, Atanas Zhapryanovsaid limited compulsory training is being considered, particularly for firearms-related jobs.
Meanwhile, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Romania has repeatedly reminded its citizens that national law contemplates resuming military service in the event of war, even though compulsory military service has not been imposed since January 2007, coinciding with joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union.
Meanwhile, Poland, which already has a military training program for willing civilians, announced its intention to resume some form of military service earlier this year. Although he is the Prime Minister of this country, donald tuskdid not provide further details, but said it intended to increase the number of annual participants to 100,000 so that a significant portion of the population could be immediately mobilized in the event of future conflict.
There is also debate in France. Neighboring countries suspended military service in 1997 while he was president. Jacques Chiracbut thanks to our current president, the issue is back in the public eye. Emmanuel Macron.
In France, reinstating compulsory military service (for both men and women) would mean an annual expenditure of 15 billion euros, according to a report by the French High Commission for Strategic Planning. Experts on French politics say this is an important fact considering the deep political crisis France is in.
“Once considered a problem of the past, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, military service has once again taken an increasingly important place on Europe’s political agenda,” said a document published by the European Parliament at the end of August.
According to the aforementioned document, “growing threats to European security, concerns about a transatlantic disengagement, and the new US administration’s position and the possibility of a peace plan for Ukraine with the presence of European troops” are the main factors behind this virtual military “renaissance.”
“There is growing recognition of the need to prepare Member States’ armed forces for the most extreme military contingencies,” he said.
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