Macron says France to restore voluntary military service amid Russia threat

French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a new national military service plan on Thursday as France seeks to bolster its armed forces to address growing concerns over Russia’s threat to European nations beyond the war in Ukraine.

Macron announced that volunteers aged 18 and 19 will start serving next year in a 10-month new military service programme.

“A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from next summer,” Macron said in a speech at the Varces military base, in the French Alps.

Young volunteers will serve in France’s mainland and overseas territories only, not in France’s military operations abroad, Macron said.

Earlier this year, Macron announced his intention to provide French youth with a new option to voluntarily serve in the military. Conscription, which France ended in 1996, is not being considered. He explained then that France seeks to boost its defences as Russia’s war in Ukraine puts the European continent at “great risk”.

“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’s to say advance wherever we are weak – well, it will continue to advance,” he told radio RTL on Tuesday.