Compulsory military service back on the table in Europe as war rages in Ukraine • FRANCE 24

Compulsory military service back on the table in Europe as war rages in Ukraine • FRANCE 24

well tonight we’re focusing on Ukraine and Europe’s ongoing support for keev as it fends off a Russian invasion earlier today Ukrainian President Vladimir zalinski was in Belgium as part of a diplomatic European tour designed to drum up renewed military support from allies he is crisscrossing the continent as Russia continues its Advance on the harke region now during his visit to Brussels president zilinski locked in a commitment from Belgium to supply 30 F-16 fighter jets by 2028 meanwhile there are reports that military instructors from France could soon arrive in Ukraine that word came from ke’s army Chief and it was quickly walked back by the French government the defense Ministry only confirming that the issue was being studied Siobhan silk has the details around 50,000 Ukrainian soldiers have received training in EU countries but as yet no Ally has sent instructors to Ukraine to conduct drills on the recruits home soil on Tuesday EU foreign Chief Joseph borell said member states were split on the prospect France’s government was the first to suggest it might send boots on the ground on the telegram messaging app on Monday the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces announced that France was indeed preparing to send military instructors to Ukraine Alexander sirki said he’d already signed the documents that would allow the first French instructors to visit Ukrainian training centers and get acquainted with their infrastructure and Personnel but the French defense Ministry later declined to confirm a deployment was imminent saying only that it was being studied Ukraine then backtracked stating the deployment of trainers was still being discussed with France and other countries the confusion comes as Ukrainian forces have been struggling to cope with renewed Russian pressure on the front line on his EU visit this week President Vladimir zinski has got new pledges for military aid but while Hardware is one thing Manpower is another Ukraine’s counter offensive continues to be hampered by a severe shortage of trained soldiers and all of this brings us to the question of reintroducing mandatory military service in Europe with the war still raging in Ukraine some EU members namely Italy and Germany are floating the idea of requiring young people to report for military service now nine members of the block already require some form of military service including Austria and Denmark but for the vast majority of EU members such a requirement was done away with decades ago for example here in France the government suspended the requirement back in 2001 well now though in Italy Deputy Prime Minister Mato sven’s League party has submitted a bill to the Chamber of deputies proposing a mandatory six-month period of military civilian service for all young people between the ages of 18 and 26 and Germany’s main opposition party the CDU has put a gradual return to mandatory military service back on its agenda for more on this I’m joined by Tony ing inuson an assistant professor in political science at Lund University thanks so much for being with us here on France 24 now you recently wrote an article in the conversation about this issue so why are we seeing a desire on the part of some EU members uh specifically in the case of Italy and Germany to return to the days where young people are required to serve in the military for a period of time why is this happening now well there are two main reasons I would say uh one is simply military Manpower requirements um it has been quite difficult for a lot of European countries to fulfill their mire requirements through voluntary recruitment so conscription could be one way of solving that problem uh and the second is that sometimes conscription is also advocated for more political reasons as a way of fostering National sensibilities and um making youth uh grow up faster and take more responsibility that kind of thing do you think we’re going to see an increase in this kind of trend with other EU countries requiring some some kind of military training or service it it is possible uh there is already a kind of a trend going on in the sense that Sweden suspended conscription but for a few years but then reinstated it but of course Sweden has a long tradition of conscription so it was not as challenging to reinstate it it would be significantly more challenging to reinstate conscription in a in a country like Germany or Italy where it hasn’t been used for for quite some time so uh I’m it remains to be seen if they’re willing to make that kind of commitment and that kind of investment that it would require to make these kind of drastic changes does this boil down to a fear that Vladimir Putin won’t stop with invading Ukraine that that he will make some kind of move to approach on a NATO member and how does NATO fit into this conversation I think that is that is a distinct possibility that many countries are considering at this point that they feel probably in many cases that they don’t have enough manpower uh to to adequately serve their security needs uh and in that case conscription is is a model that they have in many cases used for a long time even if it’s been some time since the end of the Cold War so I think that that definitely is part of the equation trying to F to to meet the new requirements of a deteriorating security situation in Europe so nine EU members have some kind of requirement whether that means reporting for service and having having a medical exam or actually serving but Sweden is the only EU member with military conscription for both men and women uh why do you think that is and do you think that that might change for other countries I think it’s quite possible that other countries will follow suit uh in the case of Sweden I’d say that the explanation is that we suspended conscription in Sweden and then when we reintroduced it it was considered a natural step to also extend it to women uh since we were in the in the process of of changing it in the sense of reintroducing it uh and I think it’s it’s worked quite well here uh and there is fairly broad popular support for conscription here as it has always been uh so I think that as other countries consider reintroducing conscription they will probably also need to consider if they want to uh to have women as well part to be part of it how does the public perception of this issue of mandatory military service how does this factor in and how is that playing into the conversation you know for example in Austria there was a public referendum that upheld conscription by a pretty wide margin also poll show that people in Sweden and Finland are also widely in favor of it I I think there are fairly considerable National differences uh to be to take into account here so countries with a tradition of conscription where conscription has also been working well because that of course that’s not guaranteed but if it works well and there’s a long tradition of having it uh then you can have a fairly High degree of legitimacy and and a fairly High degree of popular support but in other countries where it’s been some time since conscription was used or where it’s been associated with other things that are less positive I think I think it it’s it’s going to be more difficult to uh to uh get the kind of popular support you need to to implement something like that so I think the some countries have some ways to go here before before it’s it’ll achieve the kind of level of support that you can see in Sweden and Finland for example well so in Austria military service is compulsory for all male citizens for about 8 months but if you’re a conscientious objector you can instead do 13 months of of community service when it comes to Germany and Italy for example do you see there being some kind of allowance for young people who have moral objections to serving in the military I I think uh community service is a is is a is a good solution and that is something that we have had uh in Sweden as well and which we are we are also reintroducing uh because if it’s something we can see in Ukraine it is that there’s going to be in in a case of of War it’s going to be widespread Devastation of societies and there’s going to be a lot of firemen needed uh construction workers repairment that kind of thing so a lot of extra people are are going to be needed uh and conscription could serve that kind of needs as well and that would also provide for people who are not willing to take up arms to be able to contribute in another way in your article you sort of touch on this the political aspect of this you make a point about how Russia has recruited what you called a disp exposable infantry using the private group Vagner and enlisting prisoners to fight in Ukraine can you explain what political reason Russia has for doing this I think that in in Russia they are somewhat reluctant to mobilize uh people from the middle class people from Urban settings because that is uh something that could breed discontent uh and and undermine what they probably consider to be some degree of popular support for the war so instead they recruit people from prisons uh from minorities and such um and then they use them in a rather callous manner I would say uh so they have two different categories uh simply speaking so they have the Disposable kind of infantry that takes all the risks and suffer very heavy casualties and they tend to be prisoners and such uh and then they can use more valuable uh kind of infant more regular infantry to after that once the first shock has been absorbed by this disposable infantry and I think that’s a that that’s not not new for the for from a Russian point of view it’s it’s in line with their traditional way of of using people uh but it’s not something that any Western Country I think would consider okay we’ll have to leave it there Tony ingison an assistant professor in political science at L University thanks so much for joining us here on France 24 we appreciate it thank you and that’s it for now take

As Russia makes gains in eastern Ukraine, Tony Ingesson, Assistant Professor in Political Science at Lund University, speaks to FRANCE 24’s Monte Francis about the growing calls in European countries to bring back obligatory military service and extend it to women.
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