In his speech to military personnel on Thursday, Macron suggested France is ideally seeking 18 and 19-year-olds, who would be paid to sign up for 10 months but would not be deployed abroad. The €2bn programme will be rolled out gradually, with a target of 3,000 volunteers in the first year and 10,000 a year by 2030 increasing France’s military forces to around 210,000.
