Criticism mounts of national service plan

Financial and legal obstacles are mounting against Emmanuel Macron’s plans to reintroduce obligatory national service in France.

A committee examining the details of the project is due to report in April on its feasibility but in the meantime mixed messages from the government over whether the scheme will be compulsory or not have fuelled criticism.

Mr Macron, 40, is the first modern-day president not to have carried out national service himself [it was abandoned in 1996]. He is calling for a three to six-month compulsory universal national service programme for 18- to 21-year-olds but faces a legal and financial minefield to make it happen.

There are human rights challenges in forcing adults to take part in the scheme, and the costs of lodgings for up to 800,000 people could reach €17 billion to set up and €3 billion a year in running costs and security.

On top of this, there will be effects on university studies and, possibly, apprenticeships, while Mr Macron’s aim for military discipline has met with doubts on the armed forces’ abilities to change from a fighting to a teaching role. The April working group will present suggestions on how it could work from technical, financial, legal and logistical viewpoints plus how the Army could cope.

Mr Macron said his new service should not “disturb a period at university” but made no mention of apprenticeships and Aurélien Cadiou, president of the Association Nationale des Apprentis de France, said it could have a significant impact.

“One or two weeks could be no problem but if it is compulsory then it must not be a way to discriminate against young people for an apprenticeship – and the state must pay the wage,” she added. “If it is voluntary, then people should not have to put aside an apprenticeship to take part. The Code de Travail should give the right to a break.”

Government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux said there was “no question of putting whole classes into barracks for three to six months”. The aim was to encourage patriotism, rebuild social cohesion and bring together people from different backgrounds.

Mr Macron said in his presidential campaign he planned a “universal national service” of about a month giving “each young person direct experience, even briefly, of military life, its know-how and its demands” and also its “social mixing”.

He admitted that there would be a financial cost but with no “massive barracks full of conscripts” it “would not be prohibitive”. He hoped for “innovation involving business and local groups” while giving “the youth of France causes to defend and social, environmental, cultural battles to carry out”.

Currently, young people must take part in a ‘Journée de défense et citoyenneté’ before their 18th birthday, with 782,000 taking part last year.

There is also an option for 18 to 25-year-olds to do the Service Militaire Volontaire (SMV), which provides six months’ job training in uniform.