France's introduction of a voluntary military service program has drawn nearly twice as many applicants as its recruitment target.
About 5,000 men and women aged 18 to 25 have applied to become volunteer soldiers, French military authorities said Tuesday, according to AFP. The figure exceeds this year's recruitment target of 3,000 by more than 2,000.
"As of mid-May, around 1,000 candidates had already been selected, and more than 4,000 applications are being filed or under review," the military authorities said. More than 20 percent of the applicants are women, exceeding the current share of women in the military, which stands at 17 percent.
"These results clearly demonstrate young people's willingness to engage," the head of the Defense Ministry's national service project said, adding that interested youth can apply through the end of summer.
Selected volunteers will begin a 10-month tour of duty on the French mainland in September and will be paid 800 euros per month (about 1.39 million won before taxes). France plans to increase the number of volunteer soldiers to 4,000 next year and to 10,000 by 2028.
After the end of the Cold War, France judged that large-scale conscription was unnecessary and abolished universal compulsory military service in 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, transitioning to a professional volunteer-based system. The French military currently consists of about 200,000 active-duty personnel and 47,000 reservists.
However, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has dragged on, Europe's security landscape has shifted dramatically, and France is accelerating efforts to expand its military capabilities.
Under the 2024-2030 Military Programming Law, President Emmanuel Macron has set a target to nearly double the defense budget within a decade, from 32.2 billion euros in 2017 to 64 billion euros in 2027. The goal is to raise defense spending from the current level of about 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5 percent by 2030.
Another 6 billion euros will be invested in new domains of warfare, including cyber, space, and undersea operations. The new volunteer system is part of this military rebuilding drive, aimed at opening a channel for young people to participate directly in national defense alongside professional soldiers.
