Last May, the Italian Lega (far right), led by Matteo Salvini, introduced a bill mandating six months of military or civilian service for all 18- to 26-year-olds. Italy abolished military service in 2005.
The growing presence of nationalist parties in European governments, aging populations, and nearly four years of war in Ukraine have strengthened militarist tendencies. Today, several European governments appear intent on extending military service to meet growing defense demands and geopolitical tensions, and the European Union, of course, must take responsibility for this.
Spain abolished compulsory military service in 2001, France in 1996, Germany in 2011, Belgium in 1994, and the United Kingdom in 1963. Iceland had no national army, and Ireland had no compulsory military service. But now things are starting to change.
Considering conscription
Last July, a debate raged in Germany over the resumption of military service and women’s participation. This plan was not led by the Christian Democrats (in fact, it was led by Angela Merkel, who abolished military service in 2011) but by Social Democratic Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. He promised to reform the military after years of “neglect”. Pistorius, a very popular figure at home, has announced plans to increase the military from 181,000 to 203,000. However, this is not a traditional form of compulsory military service. Under Pistorius’ plan, every man and woman with a German passport would receive an official letter when they turn 18 asking them to consider six months of basic military service, which could be extended to 17 months.
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Young Germans are asked to fill out a questionnaire that provides information about their marital status, interests, stance on guns, academic knowledge and personal health. For women, responding to this questionnaire is optional.
Germany’s constitution stipulates that under special circumstances the government may request women to serve, but not to bear arms. Germany is seeking to replicate the Swedish model, introduced in 2017, and does not include automatic conscription based on age but is based on a selective process using special criteria to identify the most capable individuals.
In the past decade, Lithuania was the first country to change its position on this issue. The Baltic nation resumed conscription in 2015, a year after Russia annexed Crimea. Latvia followed suit in the summer of 2022, five months after Russian troops entered Ukraine.
In Serbia, mandatory military service was abolished in 2011, and since then the army has consisted only of professional soldiers. But last September, President Aleksandar Vucic, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, approved reintroducing a 75-day conscription system from 2025.
Not everyone supports returning to military service. In the UK, Sunak’s Conservative government’s proposal to introduce compulsory military or civilian service just before the 2023 election sparked angry reactions on social media, particularly from Generation Z. The Labor Party made clear its opposition to the resumption of conscription.
In Spain, the impact of the war in Ukraine is less evident. No political party – not even the far-right – has dared to start a debate similar to the one taking place in many other European countries. According to experts, the reasons go beyond geography and include the weight of recent history and the uphill struggle of anti-establishment movements in the 1980s and 1990s to abolish compulsory military service.
The current Secretary of Defense, socialist Margarita Robles, continues to deny how useful a return to the past is. Asked by the Senate Armed Services Committee in March whether the government had plans to reinstate military service, she told the Senate Armed Services Committee: “Nobody has ever thought of that.”
“It would be political suicide,” says sociologist Rafael Azangith, a former professor at the University of the Basque Country and author of books on military service and conscientious objection.
“Defending military service is usually associated with the extreme right and abolishing military service with left-wing positions, but reducing the debate to this dichotomy is too simplistic,” argues Alberto Bueno, a university political science professor. Granada and expert in military affairs. “For example, in countries where it feels threatened, even the Social Democrats are in favor of resuming military service.”
professional military
The Czech Republic is one of the countries where population support for military service has increased since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. However, the approval rate is still less than 50%, so no political party is seriously calling for a return to the past. Bulgaria has had an army comprised only of professional soldiers since abolishing compulsory military service in 2007. In September 2024, Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov announced that Bulgaria would not return to compulsory military service, although various forms of military training for its citizens are being discussed.
In Austria, unlike most other European countries, there was and still is compulsory military service for all men for six months, although men can choose to serve in the civil service for nine months. The survival of universal conscription has to do with the fact that Austria has a population of only 9 million and has not had a strong military tradition since World War II.
There are also distinct historical elements. In the Austrian Civil War between World War I and World War II, Conservative-controlled soldiers opened fire on civilians, most of whom were Labor Party members. Because of this history, the idea of a professional army without universal conscription has been taboo for many years, not only among centrist and left-wing political parties.
finnish model
In early 2024, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias announced that he would change the military recruitment system, inspired by the Finnish model, to open up the possibility of voluntary conscription for women. Dendias, who visited Finland in April, said the Defense Ministry was considering drastic changes to the conscription system. “It’s not about the time frame or the question of replacing conscripts with professional soldiers, an idea we reject because we believe in a citizen army. But the goal is this: We want to make military service an important, not a ‘waste of time’ as young people today think. “We want to model training quickly and efficiently on the training provided in Finland.”
In Finland, military service is compulsory for men aged 18 to 60 and optional for women aged 18 to 29. Periods vary. 165 days for unqualified conscripts, 255 days for special categories (nurses, officers, musicians, clergy, technical experts), reservists, non-commissioned officers and conscripts subject to intensive activity (drivers, divers, speedboat pilots, special forces, lawyers), non-weapon service. ~347 days, or 347 days for non-military service (social work).
