The introduction of mandatory conscription at the European level has been a "cherished plan" for years.
The plan outlined by the Junge Union already dealt with the introduction of military service for women and men at the EU level in 2017.
Manfred Weber, the president of the European People's Party, recently came up with the idea that the European Union should set up a joint mandatory military service.
V4NA wrote that this proposal will already be discussed in the newly formed EP in June. For this reason, the upcoming EP election is crucial, it does not matter to what extent the pro-war forces remain in the body.
Experts: mandatory conscription would strengthen European self-awareness
However, the idea that the Union needs a common army is not new. Vincent-Immanuel Herr and Martin Speer - who are the founders of the German-American think tank Herr & Speer - discussed this in the columns of the Washington Post . THE
According to the authors of the analysis, the war in Ukraine also highlighted that
how "stupid" it is for Europe to rely too much on the United States.
In a special way, Herr and Speer also emphasized the importance of developing a European identity in connection with the European-level conscription. As they put it, "the EU is proud of the diversity of languages, cultures and histories, but this heterogeneity comes at a price (...), unfortunately, few consider themselves primarily European."
However, a joint EU military can promote the formation of a community that would build European self-awareness".
They added, "this would be especially true if 17-year-old EU citizens were required to serve six to nine months".
Based on the plan proposed by the authors, women and men could choose to serve as civilians or as soldiers in the EU's armed forces after finishing school.
Even before the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Germans toyed with the idea
The of Magyar Nemzet also revealed that Vincent-Immanuel Herr and Martin Speer occasionally visit the European Parliament. In the spring of 2023, for example, they performed in front of EU interns at the invitation of the European Commission's Director General for Education, Youth, Sports and Culture.
The paper also drew attention to the fact that Herr & Speer's proposal resonates with the plan outlined by the German Junge Union (the youth organization of the German Christian Democratic Union and the Bavarian Christian Social Union - ed.), which would even transfer the powers of the member states to Brussels establish a mandatory European conscription.
The Junge Union's proposal was well ahead of the two experts' article:
the introduction of military service for women and men at EU level was already proposed in 2017.
The cited document specifically recommends that "every young person should perform military or civilian service in a European country for a minimum of 9 and a maximum of 24 months".
The report of the Bundeswehr Journal even revealed that the current president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also took part in the aforementioned meeting.
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