Program for 18- and 19-year-olds will focus solely on missions within France.

On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a 10-month voluntary military service beginning next summer for young people ages 18 and 19, who will serve only on missions within national territory.

RELATED:

French Court to Rule on Recognition of Nicaragua’s $800 Million Pesticide Ruling

At first, 3,000 young people will enter the voluntary military service, a number that should rise to 10,000 by 2030 and, “depending on the threat,” to 50,000 by 2035, he said in a speech at the Varces barracks in the French Alps.

“Young people aspire to freedom and thirst for commitment,” Macron said, adding that the creation of this national service is part of a broader movement underway across the European continent.

“At a time when all our European allies are moving forward in the face of a threat that weighs on all of us, France cannot remain immobile. We need the mobilization of the nation to defend itself, not against this or that enemy, but to be prepared and to be respected,” the French president stated.

These new volunteer soldiers “will serve on national territory and only on national territory,” Macron stressed, responding to controversy in recent days sparked by remarks from Army Chief of Staff Fabien Mandon, who said that given the threat from Russia, France must be prepared to “accept losing its sons.”

The French president clarified that the army will select future recruits from among “the most motivated and those who best meet its needs.” Candidates will express their interest during the “mobilization day,” which all young people are required to attend.

Of the 10 months of service, the first month will consist of general training in which they will learn basic military skills, marching, and the rudiments of handling weapons. The remaining nine months will be spent in a military unit where they will share daily life and activities with professional soldiers, with the sole exception that they will not be sent on missions abroad.

Macron ruled out the return of mandatory military service — abolished in France in 1996 because it was no longer considered useful after the end of the Cold War — saying it “does not correspond to the needs of our army or to current threats.”

However, the French president left the door open to requiring an entire class of young people to join the armed forces if Parliament were to decide so “in an exceptional case.”

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

IN THIS ARTICLE