Conscription not reintroduced in the Netherlands
While countries like Germany, France and Poland are considering reintroducing conscription in these times of conflict, Dutch youngsters should not immediately fear that they will have to go under arms.
From an internal analysis of the Dutch armed forces, the army is not ready to train recruits: it lacks instructors, barracks, equipment and ammunition to do so. The Dutch army is already struggling to train the 1,000 young people who sign up for service each year. Moreover, a reintroduction would be extremely expensive.
In principle, those aged between 17 and 45 can be called up for military service, but compulsory attendance has been deferred since 1 May 1997. Only if neighbouring countries like Belgium and Germany start mobilising or the Netherlands or one of the NATO allies would be threatened could conscription be reactivated.
In the European Union, only Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Lithuania, Austria and Sweden still have compulsory military service.
(Fausto by Tagtik/Source: AD/Illustration picture: Unsplash)