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Is conscription returning to Europe? What it means for the EU and Hungary
European governments are struggling with security concerns and personnel shortages, while Ukraine’s experience shows both the necessity and social limitations of conscription. The issue of compulsory military service deeply divides European societies.
In our article
The Ukrainian experience
The full-scale Russian invasion has fundamentally changed Ukrainian society—primarily its attitude toward the army, military service, and the very concept of mobilisation.
Before 2022, debates about the armed forces focused largely on reforms, NATO standardisation, and the gradual transition to a professional army. After the Russian attack, however, military service ceased to be an abstract political debate and became a matter of the state’s physical survival.
In the early stages of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s resistance relied heavily on an unprecedented wave of voluntary mobilisation, with thousands of people joining the Ukrainian armed forces and territorial defence units without any previous combat experience. However, as the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion approaches, public opinion has changed noticeably: today, more and more Ukrainians are trying to avoid military service and mobilisation.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged the shortage of personnel in the armed forces. In his view, expanding mobilisation is “a difficult issue for the state, the army, society, and Ukraine’s partners.” Zelensky explained that the current mobilisation system operates on the basis of decisions made by the military command, which has determined that approximately 30,000 people need to be drafted each month. “This is a difficult question,” the president said. “People in society have to work and pay taxes, and then these resources go to the army. A balance must be found.”
Ukraine’s experience shows that even voluntary mobilisation during wartime has clear limitations. The legal framework alone is not enough — motivation, quality training, and long-term social support for those who serve are just as important. At the same time, Ukraine continues to debate whether the age limit for mobilisation should be lowered from 25 to 18, as US officials and NATO representatives urge Kyiv to lower the age limit, citing the urgent need for manpower on the front lines.
Technology and human resources
The war in Ukraine has also demonstrated that technology can partially compensate for the shortage of personnel on the battlefield. FPV drones and robotic ground platforms are increasingly being used to perform tasks that previously required large numbers of soldiers. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, described 2025 as a “breakthrough year” for the development of unmanned systems.
However, Ukrainian military officials emphasise that technology cannot completely replace ground troops. An analysis published by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies highlights the main reasons: the complexity of combat tasks and the need for quick judgment and decision-making in unpredictable circumstances.
For European countries considering reinstating conscription or introducing extended voluntary service, Ukraine’s experience offers a clear lesson: even technologies that dramatically increase combat effectiveness cannot eliminate the challenges of motivation, rotation, and the psychological resilience of military personnel.
Germany: Voluntary military service returns
Germany was the first country to pass a law introducing voluntary military service. Starting in 2026, approximately 680,000 German citizens born in 2008 or later will receive a questionnaire asking whether they are willing to perform military service. Men born on or after January 1, 2008, are required to complete the questionnaire, although the service itself remains voluntary. However, if recruitment targets are not met, Parliament may decide to reactivate compulsory military service and introduce a lottery system.
On the day the law on voluntary service was passed, thousands of young people took to the streets in at least 90 German cities to protest against what they called a new form of conscription. The resistance of young people was already evident before the law was passed. According to Michael Schulze von Glaßer, director of the German Peace Movement, visits to the organization’s website, which provides information on refusing military service, have increased month by month. “In May, the site registered 24,000 visits, and in the first ten days of September alone, 65,000. We receive many requests from young people, but also from parents who are concerned about their children.”
France and Italy
The situation is very different in France. President Emmanuel Macron has announced the launch of a new ten-month military service program starting in the summer of 2026. The government hopes to mobilize 3,000 people in the first year and 50,000 by 2035. According to Christian Renoux, representative of the International Reconciliation Association, this new voluntary military service would replace the Universal National Service (SNU), created by Macron in 2017, which provided for a period of civilian or military training. However, the project was a failure and extremely costly.
“According to a survey, 80% of respondents supported the new voluntary service, and 64% even supported the reintroduction of compulsory military service. But we have to take into account the age composition of the respondents. I don’t think young people are very interested; in fact, it’s difficult to recruit them,” Renoux said.
The debate on conscription is also raging in Italy. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto wants to establish voluntary military service, but the project is not yet final and would need the support of Parliament. Meanwhile, the “Nonviolent Action” movement has already sent 7,471 letters from citizens to the Council of Ministers and President Mattarella, stating that they are unwilling to “take up arms.”
The situation in the European Union
As security and defense remain a national rather than an EU competence, recent debates and measures in Germany, France, and Italy illustrate how individual EU member states are reevaluating their military manpower models amid a broader revival of the defense agenda. This refocusing is driven not only by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but also by growing concerns about the future reliability of transatlantic security guarantees under the Trump administration, writes EUNews.
Although all EU countries rely primarily on professional armed forces, about one-third of member states currently maintain some form of peacetime conscription, with a wide variety of service lengths, pay scales, and reserve structures.
Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden all operate compulsory or semi-compulsory systems.
At the same time, as we wrote about earlier, Croatia has decided to reinstate compulsory military service, while Germany is introducing a new voluntary military service system. In both cases, participation is initially limited to men and began earlier this year.
Three models: compulsory, lottery-based, and selective conscription
Conscription systems in the EU can be broadly classified into three models. Compulsory service, which is in place in Austria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, and Greece, requires all eligible citizens to serve, usually through a multi-year call-up cycle.
Conscription based on lottery, which is used in Denmark, Latvia, and Lithuania, relies on random selection to determine who must serve, alongside a significant number of volunteers.
Selective compulsory service, as practiced in Sweden, recruits individuals based on criteria such as motivation, aptitude, educational background, and interest in military service.
Conscription is also compulsory for women
There is no large army in Europe where conscription is automatically compulsory for all women. Currently, only Norway, Sweden, and Denmark apply conscription to both men and women, reflecting evolving gender norms in defence policy. Here, the system is based on motivation, ability, and aptitude, and only a small proportion of those called up are women. The aim is not to increase numbers, but to ensure high-quality recruitment.
If White Nations accept a return to conscription it will simply mean we will be pitted against each other by The Western Elite.
Result?
They, The Western Elite, will grow even stronger and we will grow even weaker.
One thing is clear to me : we did not learn much from the 20th century.
The war against Russia proves that.
“White Nations”. There is your racist post. The end point is Nazism.
How is that racist?
Europeans are white, Nigerians are black, and Chinese sre asian.
It is telling, Larry, that you think basic facts are a thought crimes.
How does this comment intent to make sense when one of the goals of the EU is to stop war against each other? On the other hand you have the “white” (,i would say orange indeed) leader trying to get Greenland and trying to blow up NATO. such a non sense this guy here
The EU uses that excuse, while reintroducing conscription, and openly escalating the conflit against Russia. Last week, they decided to hunt down Russian ships on the open sea, for example.
If you can’t put 2 and 2 together, you are hopeless.
In Finland, conscription has always existed – still does. Because they have more than 1 000km border with Russia. And they know very well from history to never trust their eastern neighbor…
The war that Russia started against its neighbor Ukraine proves that, again.
It is all about not letting the imperialist barbaric leaders to think that they can easily conquer a civilized country by force. Every country neighboring Russia should think the same.
Good point about Finland Ostanus. I can tell you that many Finns were content with the neutrality that they had while maintaining an incredibly strong military defence against any Russian aggression. Finland has bunkers that can house 18% of its’ population and I saw one. Times have changed and quite obviously the Finns do not trust the Russians one bit anymore leading them to join NATO. The question remains as to why Hungary obstructed Finland’s accession for a year and a half. Well who does Orban work for?
I tell you, Larry.
Humgary obstructed Finnland and Sweeden’s NATO membership, becsuse those countries are open about how they wanted a regime change in Hungary.
Then they changed their tunes, to, “we didn’t mean it seriously”, then Hungary let them in, and literally the day after that, they attacked Hungary again in the courts.
Sweeden and Finnland are led by traitorous, scummy assholes, to summarise it. And we don’t want a traitorous “ally”, who actively works against us.
Nope, Fidesz led Hungary prolonged the process in hope of gaining access to frozen EU-funds.
Finally Fidesz realized that its useless to extort two EU members since all other members would still block the EU funds due to clear violations of fundamental EU-laws.
After all that nonsense, the whole west sees Hungary as an unreliable ally.
With the current unreliable Fidesz governing, unfortunately nobody in other EU and NATO countries would miss Hungary if we left EU and NATO.
The enemy is the EU- gearing up for war with Russia- at the Same time attacking the US. The only reason Russia. Hasn’t taken all Ukraine because of US involvement and shown restraint.
You poor fools. The EU couldn’t even work out a deal with the UK its largest member 2/3 the money. Pushing Hungary around is big deal to them.
Trumps #2 goal was end the killing in Ukraine- because of the EU -that has not happened. The US has 50k troops in Germany and could have 4 time that many in a day. Since Germany has threatened to remove US from its country- I’m all for taking control of it all they now occupy . We have seen the histeria over greenland where Danes sexually exploited the native women- going back to the 60s.
EU is running to china—Russia’s largest supplier of energy —-hoping it will save them from evil trump. They can join N Korea as a satellite partner. Europe should be concerned how weak it is- more importantly how clueless it is.