French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will introduce voluntary military service next summer.
“The new national service will be gradually introduced starting next summer. I propose introducing full military service, which will not be universal, but which could still cover an entire generation,” Macron said, speaking at the Var-Alliège-et-Riss military base in southeastern France.
France officially abolished compulsory military service in 1997. The law provided for a gradual abolition of conscription; only men born before the end of 1978 were subject to compulsory military service. In 2001, the last year of conscription, only 23,000 men were called up, serving for just six months instead of the previous ten.