Croatia Reintroduces Mandatory Military Service: Starting January 2025, Lasting Two Months

(Patria) - Croatian Minister of Defence Ivan Anušić stated that mandatory military service, announced to begin next year, will last for two months.

"Military service will last for two months, it will start on January 1, 2025," Anušić told RTL television.

There have been discussions in public for some time about the reintroduction of mandatory military service, and one of its biggest proponents is the Minister of Defence Ivan Anušić from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

For months, he has been announcing the reintroduction of mandatory military service from the beginning of 2025 for males over 18 years of age, but with the note that details are still being arranged and the political procedure has not been completed.

Mandatory military service was abolished in 2008, and since then, military service has only been voluntary, but interest in it has also declined.

The President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović, recently stated that the reintroduction of mandatory military service should be discussed at length and seriously at the highest level.

Regarding the announcements from the Government led by HDZ and the right-wing Homeland Movement, Milanović said that the Croatian Constitution "leaves very little room" for mandatory military service.