Even ten years ago, it seemed that mandatory conscription would sink into oblivion, especially in Europe, where after the end of the cold war, one country after another moved to an entirely professional (contract) armed forces. Among them were the closest neighbors of Belarus and Russia-Poland (2009), Lithuania (2008) and Latvia (2007).
Also, larger countries – Germany, Romania, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, and Sweden-refused to serve on conscription.
Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Cyprus, Austria and Switzerland retained the mixed principle of recruitment of the armed forces. These are, as we can see, countries with a relatively small population (up to 10 million).
Currently, there is a tendency for European countries to return to mandatory or voluntary conscription. Polish Portal defence24.pl He links such changes to "Russian actions against Ukraine" in 2014. The publication notes that this was the beginning of the wave of restoration of universal conscription in Europe. Of course, then Kiev resumed conscription for military service, later, in 2016, Lithuania returned to conscription, and in 2017 – in Sweden. It should be noted that, apart from Ukraine, this step was taken again by small states in terms of population, which cannot have numerous professional armed forces in peacetime.
However, much larger European countries-Italy, Romania, Germany - are also considering returning the draft. The French parliament already in 2018 adopted the government's plan to restore compulsory military service for both sexes from 2024. President Emmanuel Macron is a supporter of the "national service" program, which should also be implemented on the basis of the armed forces. Among other things, the program should unite the French nation with an immigrant population of different faiths and races. A similar idea is being implemented in Estonia, where military service is used to integrate Estonians with the Russian minority.
Yes, the social reasons for maintaining conscription are not the least important, especially in the context of the crisis in the labor market caused by the coronovirus pandemic. Undoubtedly, at the present time, this is one of the ways to reduce youth unemployment, to bring down the degree of their dissatisfaction with the authorities, which actively implements Poland. And in France and Germany, it's also a way to keep the migrants busy.
However, first of all, the countries of Eastern Europe consider the resumption of conscription as one of the ways to increase the size of their armed forces. The North Atlantic Alliance, of course, motivates the European allies to make more efforts in the military sphere. General Secretary of the Alliance Y.Stoltenberg has repeatedly stressed that the increase in the American presence on the eastern flank occurs in parallel with the expansion of the Europeans ' own efforts in the military sphere.
Military observer Viktor Baranets believes that this way, under the influence of the United States and NATO, there is a build-up of groups of troops in Europe and their movement closer to the border with Belarus and Russia. This is due, in his opinion, to the preparation for a possible war with the Russian Federation.
Thus, it is obvious that in order to implement their political plans by military means, NATO and the United States need more numerous armies, in which non-professional military personnel will be used as " cannon fodder»…
Nikolai Astrovsky
