Facing Russia 'threat', France to restore voluntary military service

The announcement will come more than three-and-a-half years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Macron and other French officials warning that Moscow risks not stopping at Ukraine's borders.

France's top general, armed forces chief of staff Fabien Mandon, sparked uproar at home last week by warning that France must be ready "to lose its children", adding that Russia is "preparing for a confrontation by 2030 with our countries".

Macron told the RTL broadcaster he would be announcing a "transformation of national service into a new form" on Thursday, but did not provide further details.

A source with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named, told AFP that the plan is for 2,000 to 3,000 people to be trained up in the first year, aiming to increase those signing up over time to 50,000 per year.

Macron warned that France should not show "weakness" in the face of the threat posed by Russia.

"If we want to protect ourselves, we French -- which is my sole concern -- we must demonstrate that we are not weak against the power that threatens us the most," he said.

- 'Acquiring the mass' -

The use of military service is uneven across Europe.

But France would join European countries like Baltic states Latvia and Lithuania which have brought it back in recent years, while others such as Denmark have toughened its terms.

Military service is seen as bolstering armies with recruits, but also providing a large pool of potential reservists who could be called up in the case of a future war.

The French armed forces have approximately 200,000 active military personnel and 47,000 reservists, numbers expected to increase to 210,000 and 80,000 respectively by 2030.

The mobilisation on a voluntary basis could serve to meet the needs of "acquiring the mass" necessary for the armed forces to survive in the event of conflict, French land army chief of staff General Pierre Schill said earlier this year.

There is so far no suggestion that the military service in France would be compulsory, as it was before then president Jacques Chirac abolished conscription in 1997 as part of army reforms.

Germany's coalition government this week agreed on a new voluntary military service model, after weeks of wrangling over whether there should be a compulsory element like in Denmark, where both young men and women are called up in a lottery.

- 'Not going to send our young' -

Accused of war-mongering by the left, General Mandon has expressed no regret over his comments last week, saying the aim was to "alert and prepare" amid a "rapidly deteriorating" context.

According to France's National Strategic Review for 2025, a document that is a cornerstone of official policy, France must "prepare for the possibility of a major, high-intensity engagement in Europe's neighbourhood by 2027-2030, coinciding with a massive increase in hybrid attacks on its territory".

The reactions to his comments "show that this is something that was perhaps not sufficiently perceived in our population", Mandon said on Saturday.

But ahead of Thursday's announcement, Macron and other officials have been at pains to emphasise that the comments by Mandon focused on the sacrifices made by the armed forces and there was no plan to send France's young to the front line.

"It is absolutely necessary, at least immediately, to dispel any confused idea suggesting that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine," Macron said on Tuesday, adding that Mandon's original remarks had been "taken out of context". 

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