MILITARY CONSCRIPTION TO INCREASE IN DENMARK, INCLUDING WOMEN “TO AVOID” WAR

Sat 16 March 2024:

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on Wednesday that her country would be expanding the number of Danes serving in the armed forces and requiring women to conscript.

According to Frederiksen, the Nordic nation would be increasing the mandatory service period for both men and women from four months to eleven months, during a news conference in Copenhagen.

The prime minister said the government wants “full equality between the sexes.”

The new law on conscription is expected to come into force in 2025 and will take effect in 2026, according to Lund Poulsen.

Frederiksen also stressed that the country must spend 2.4% of its GDP on defense to meet NATO’s budget requirements.

“The total defense budget, including aid to Ukraine, will amount to 2.4% of Danish GDP this year and in 2025,” she told reporters while also noting that the government plans to raise its defense spending by US$5.9 billion over five years to boost its military capacity.

“We do not rearm because we want war. We are rearming because we want to avoid it,” Frederiksen explained.

Denmark currently has approximately 9,000 professional troops with a further 4,700 conscripts undergoing basic training, according to official figures.

However, the Nordic country now seeks to significantly boost the size of its armed forces to help Denmark meet its requirements under its NATO membership by also making conscription mandatory for women.

Under the current law, women are only required to join on a voluntary basis while men are obliged to serve if they are called under a lottery system.

Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen emphasized that the security situation in Europe has become “more and more serious,” and for that reason “we have to take that into account when we look at future defense.”

The defense minister said that recruiting “all genders is needed,” as this will ensure “more versatile and more complete defense.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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