France: stronger through voluntary military service?
France's army is to be strengthened by voluntary military service. There will be no conscription for the time being and service will be limited to the "national territory", President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. This followed a statement by the Chief of the Defence Staff General Fabien Mandon, who warned that the country must be prepared to "lose its children" faced with the Russian threat.
Time for determination
Showing true colours inside and out is the way to go for Ouest-France:
.“The best way to prevent all future conflicts is to prepare yourself for them. Actively and visibly. By investing heavily in our defence, as we will be doing from this year onwards, if our political leaders manage to agree on a budget. And through unwavering determination in the face of all aggression. ... This does not mean summoning entire generations to the flag and even less, sending conscripts to the front. It means closing ranks around our values, raising collective awareness and making it clear that issues of national defence are once again everyone's business”
The country must take a different path
In L'Humanité, Communist member of the Occitania Regional Council Pascal Mazet paints a bleak picture of the state of France:
“This strategy smacks of a historical constant: when social injustices become too visible, when democratic divisions become too deep, some governments prefer to construct external enemies rather than resolve internal emergencies. ... While minds are being prepared for war, public hospitals are dying, schools are suffering, wages are stagnating, rural areas are emptying and young people are searching for a future that is not being offered to them. ... France must take a different path. A path of diplomacy, peaceful sovereignty, social justice, and national reconstruction through bonds rather than through confrontation.”
Defend freedom against autocrats
Europe should first and foremost reflect on its values, urges philosopher Gaspard Koenig in Les Echos:
“In order to accept 'losing our children', we must first stop losing ourselves and restore faith in the liberal institutions that today distinguish Europe from the rest of the world and bring it under fierce attacks from autocracies. In the face of all those who are prepared to sacrifice our identity on the altar of short-sighted mercantilism or a catastrophic appeasement policy à la Munich, let us stand up for freedom in the long term. What Russia detests above all, as Vladimir Putin repeats ad nauseam, is our values. All the more reason to hold them high.”
Cash strapped on shaky ground
The financing of the new military service is unreliable, writes the Tages-Anzeiger:
“The truth is that France is heavily in debt and lacks the funds for major investments. ... It's not even certain whether the fragmented parliament will be able to pass a regular budget by the end of the year. If it fails, the planned additional military expenditure of 6 to 7 billion euros is likely to fall by the wayside. And this will put the financing for the new Service National back on shaky ground. ... France may have the 'best' or 'most effective' army in Europe, one with nuclear weapons, which are of course a key asset for deterrence. But at this dramatic moment in history the country is also dramatically short of cash.”