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chairman Emmanuel Macron A new national military service plan will be unveiled on Thursday as France looks to strengthen its armed forces to address growing concerns RussiaThreats to European nations beyond war ukraine,
Macron would stress “the need to prepare the country for growing threats,” the president’s office said ahead of his visit to the Varese military base. French Alps.
Earlier this year, Macron announced his intention to provide French youth with a new option to voluntarily serve in the military. Conscription, which France abolished in 1996, is not being considered.
Macron said France was trying to boost its security as Russia’s war in Ukraine puts the European continent at “great risk.”
“The day you send a signal of weakness to Russia – which has made the strategic choice for 10 years to become an imperial power again, that is, to advance wherever we are weak – well, it will continue to advance,” he told radio RTL on Tuesday.
Macron has announced 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) of additional military spending over the next two years.
He said France would aim to spend 64 billion euros in annual defense spending in 2027, the final year of his second term. This would be double the annual expenditure of 32 billion euros if he became president in 2017.
France’s military currently consists of approximately 200,000 active personnel and more than 40,000 reserve soldiers, placing it the second largest in the European Union. polandFrance wants to increase the number of reservists to 100,000 by 2030,
France’s new army chief, General Fabien Mandon, sent a warning last week about the country needing to be prepared to “lose its children” in the event of a potential conflict with Russia – words that sparked outrage across the political spectrum.
General Mandon said Russia annexed 20% of Georgia’s territory in 2008, Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and could launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He said, “Unfortunately, Russia today, based on the information available to me, is preparing for a confrontation with our countries by 2030. It is organizing itself for this, it is preparing for it, and it is confident that its existential enemy is NATO.”
Macron clarified that National Military Service volunteers would not be sent to the front lines.
“In any case, we must immediately dispel the illusion that we are going to send our youth to Ukraine,” Macron said on Tuesday. “That’s not at all what this thing is about.”
France is not the only European nation to enhance its military capabilities.
Germany is doubling its efforts to attract more recruits, particularly through a new voluntary military service. The plan is yet to be approved by Parliament.
Belgium’s defense minister sent a letter this month to encourage 17-year-olds to sign up for military service next year, with the goal of selecting 500 candidates between 18 and 25 to launch the program in September.
Poland recently launched a new voluntary military training program and aims to train 100,000 volunteers a year from 2027 as it seeks to build an army of reserve troops amid growing Russia concerns. It is not considering a return to universal military service, but rather a reserve system.
Ten EU countries have compulsory military service: Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden. Norway, which is not a member, has compulsory military service for both men and women. The length of service ranges from as little as two months in Croatia to 19 months in Norway.