Sunday, 26 October 2025
A wave of defence reforms has swept across Europe over the past fourteen months as governments reassess their manpower policies amid ongoing instability from Russia’s war in Ukraine. Several EU member states have revived, expanded, or modernised forms of conscription and reserve training once regarded as Cold War relics.
Croatia has become the most recent to act. On 24 October 2025 its parliament voted to reinstate compulsory military service, ending a seventeen-year suspension and signalling a decisive shift in national defence thinking. The new system requires men aged between eighteen and thirty to complete an eight-week training programme designed to instil discipline, physical readiness and crisis-response skills. Women may take part on a voluntary basis. Registration begins at eighteen, with call-ups starting for those turning nineteen in 2026. Conscripts will earn a monthly stipend of roughly €1,100, and those objecting on moral or religious grounds can opt for civil protection or community service of similar duration. Students may defer their training until the age of twenty-nine. Sessions will be held at army facilities in Požega, Knin and Slunj.
The Croatian government has framed the measure as an investment in civic resilience rather than militarisation. Officials argue that the country’s youth should possess the basic skills needed to respond in emergencies and contribute to national stability. The bill passed with an overwhelming majority, reflecting how public and political sentiment has hardened since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Croatia’s move places it within a wider continental shift. Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Latvia have all updated their service systems in the past year, albeit in different ways. In mid-2025 Denmark extended its draft to women so that anyone turning eighteen after 1 July 2025 will enter the same assessment process as men. The reform, which lengthens training from four to eleven months starting next year, makes Denmark the first European country with fully gender-inclusive conscription. Copenhagen says the new approach will modernise its armed forces and tap a wider pool of motivated recruits.
Germany has taken a separate route. On 27 August 2025 the government approved a bill to create a six-month voluntary service track aimed at strengthening reserves and attracting young people to military careers. Ministers have left open the possibility of broader compulsory measures if recruitment falls short, but for now the focus remains on building enthusiasm through choice.
In Finland, conscription has long been universal for men and optional for women, but the government has decided to increase its reserve capacity by raising the upper age limit from 60 to 65. The change, introduced in May 2025, will expand the wartime pool by an estimated 125,000 trained personnel by 2031. It reinforces Finland’s tradition of national defence while adjusting to demographic realities.
Sweden is following a similar path of gradual reinforcement. A government review released in July 2025 recommended allowing former officers to remain on call until the age of seventy instead of forty-seven. At the same time, higher defence budgets and better pay for conscripts are intended to make service more sustainable as the country expands its intake.
In Lithuania, the draft remains in force but authorities have refined its implementation. Men aged eighteen to twenty-three serve nine months, with annual call-up lists and clearer rules for student deferments published early in the year. The changes are administrative rather than legislative, but they underscore the country’s determination to maintain a functioning rotation of trained citizens.
The Netherlands has opted for expansion without compulsion. A manpower plan unveiled in March 2025 seeks to double total personnel numbers, relying heavily on reserves and volunteers rather than a reinstated draft. The initiative reflects both manpower shortages and a recognition that defence preparedness now requires broader social engagement.
Latvia, which restored national service in 2024, continued strengthening its programme throughout 2025, adding professional soldiers and running nationwide readiness drills. The plan foresees full participation by 2027, consolidating a mixed model of conscripts and professionals suited to the region’s security conditions.
Across all these cases, NATO has maintained a supportive but non-prescriptive stance. Secretary-General Mark Rutte told leaders at the Alliance’s June 2025 summit in The Hague that each country must choose its own model of service but ensure that its forces remain fully staffed and prepared. The organisation’s new readiness target of 300,000 troops depends on consistent recruitment pipelines across the alliance, and member states are responding in their own ways.
Finland’s defence minister has called his country’s reform a way to give more citizens a role in national defence. Denmark’s leadership describes its gender-inclusive draft as a modernisation of both society and the military. In Germany, officials acknowledge that relying exclusively on professional soldiers may no longer be sustainable. In the Baltics, leaders are even more forthright, presenting national service as a civic obligation rather than a political choice.
Public attitudes are shifting accordingly. In Croatia, surveys show strong backing for a short, skills-based form of training that can be applied both in uniform and in civilian emergencies. Young people increasingly regard such preparation as a civic contribution rather than an outdated duty. Across Europe, national service is being redefined not as conscription for war but as a mechanism for resilience in an unpredictable world.
Croatia’s first class of recruits will begin medical examinations before the end of 2025 and start training in early 2026. Denmark’s new intake of men and women will follow soon after, and Germany’s voluntary corps is expected to be reviewed later in the year. Together these reforms mark a generational turning point: Europe is once again linking citizenship to the defence of its shared security.
As one senior NATO official observed privately, modern defence is not measured only in weapons but in willingness. Croatia’s brief two-month training course may appear modest, yet its symbolic impact is considerable. Across the continent, the revival of national service embodies a rediscovered conviction that Europe’s strength ultimately depends on the readiness of its own citizens.
Sources: CIJ.World analysis based on official data from the Croatian Ministry of Defence, NATO, European Commission, Reuters, and national defence ministries across the EU.
