President Macron, national service and a strategy of militarisation
National conscription was abolished in France in 1997. But President Emmanuel Macron has just announced that a “purely military” - and voluntary - national service will be introduced for young adults next summer. As Mediapart's political correspondent writes, France's head of state has found the guiding principle for the rest of his presidency: that of preparing the country for war. At the Élysée, his aides hope this strategy will encourage the public to pay attention to him on the domestic front once again.
TwentyTwenty-eight years after the end of conscription, Emmanuel Macron has announced the launch of a voluntary ten-month national service programme starting next summer. “We need the nation to be mobilised to defend itself … so that it stands ready and is respected,” said the French president in a speech given at Varces in south-east France on November 27th.
