Initiative launched in Serbia to reinstate compulsory military service

(Patria) - The General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces has launched an initiative and proposed to the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vučić, the reintroduction of compulsory military service, lasting up to four months, the Serbian Ministry of Defence announced today.

As stated, this was done "with the aim of enhancing the defence capabilities of the Serbian Armed Forces, through rejuvenation and improvement of the recruitment and training of active and reserve components," reports RSE.

"The proposal of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces comes after a detailed consideration of the overall security situation and modern challenges facing Serbia as a militarily neutral country, which have imposed the need to adapt the model of military recruitment, which would enable the strengthening of the overall recruitment potential and training of a larger number of citizens for the defence of our country," the statement said.

Earlier, Serbian Defence Minister Miloš Vučević announced the initiation of parliamentary procedure to repeal the decision on the suspension of compulsory military service and to revise the law regulating that obligation.

On January 4, Vučević told Happy television that the initiative is being launched based on an assessment of the security situation in the country and that many European countries are reactivating compulsory military service.

He stated that there has been no compulsory military service for 13 years and that the Army "now has a need to fill the reserve component."

- We have 13 generations where there was no compulsory military service, 13 generations have left the reserve component of the Serbian Armed Forces.

Our needs, defence and security, are to have new recruits, new conscripts and a new component, which is always ready to protect the state.

This does not mean we are preparing for conflicts or that some wars are imminent - added Vučević.

In Serbia, compulsory military service was abolished on January 1, 2011, since when only those who voluntarily wish to do so join the army.

The topic of reintroducing compulsory military service is not new in officials' statements. Vučić announced it in 2022, and a year earlier, then-Defence Minister Nebojša Stefanović also spoke about it.

Serbian officials in their statements emphasise that Serbia has no intention and will not have any intention of joining NATO.

Serbia is one of the rare countries in the Western Balkans that does not wish to join that military bloc.

If the current authorities decide to return military service to regular frameworks, Serbia will find itself among the rare European countries, such as Sweden, Lithuania or Georgia, which abolished this obligation and then reintroduced it.

European countries that have not abolished compulsory military service are Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Austria, Turkey, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Greece and Cyprus.