French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday announced the creation of a new military program for 18 and 19-year-olds to help their country bolster its defenses against Russian aggression.
Macron unveiled the program, a volunteer service, during a speech at the Varces military base on Thursday.
“A new national service is set to be gradually established, starting from this summer,” Macron said. “In this uncertain world where power prevails over law and war is an ever-present reality, our nation has no right to fear, panic, unpreparedness, or division.”
The volunteer program would take young men and women for 10-month paid stints inside France and overseas French territories.
Following their participation, volunteers would then choose to either remain in the armed forces, transition to a reserve status, or return to civilian life.
“We cannot return to the time of conscription,” Macron said. “This hybrid army model corresponds to the threats and risks ahead, bringing together national service youth, reservists, and the active army.”
The French government is prepared to spend $2.32 billion on the effort, which it hopes will enlist 3,000 people next year and build out to 10,000 members of the volunteer service by the end of the decade.
“My ambition for France is to reach 50,000 youth by 2035, depending on evolving threats,” Macron said. “France cannot remain idle.”
The French president has been clear that he aims to project strength and military preparedness to deter future threats of Russian aggression.
“The day that you send a signal of weakness to Russia, which for 10 years has made a strategic choice to become an imperial power again, that’s to say advance wherever we are weak – well, it will continue to advance,” Macron told French radio outlet RTL on Tuesday.
Macron was among several European leaders who volunteered their national military personnel to enter Ukraine as a “reassurance force” following a hypothetical peace deal with Russia.
EUROPE WILLING TO PUT TROOPS IN UKRAINE ON ‘THE DAY THE PEACE IS SIGNED’ WITH RUSSIA
“We have about 20 countries that have already said what they are prepared to do actively, either in the air, on land, or at sea,” he explained.
The French president said such forces could be in Ukraine as early as “the day the peace is signed.”
