New Bill in France: Voluntary Military Service to Be Introduced, Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that voluntary military service will start operating in the country next summer. According to him, the new national service will be implemented gradually. “I propose a fully military service that is not universal but can encompass an entire generation,” Macron stated.

France officially abolished mandatory military service in 1997. The law called for a gradual phasing out of conscription, which applied only to men born before the end of 1978. In 2001, the last year of conscription, only 23,000 men were drafted, serving just six months instead of the previous ten months.