NATO Chief Weighs In on Military Conscription Across Europe

Newsweek

5 hours ago

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Each European country will decide independently on whether to introduce military conscription, NATO's secretary-general has said, as the continent forges ahead with its rapid defense ramp up.
Why It Matters
NATO's European members, plus Canada, are in the middle of a massive defense push, reinvesting in their military after years of leaning heavily on the United States.
America has tens of thousands of troops and a host of major bases in Europe, but President Donald Trump—a vociferous NATO skeptic—has demanded that alliance members commit to spending 5 percent of GDP on defense. Many had struggled to hit the 2 percent NATO target as Trump took office.
But the alliance inked a pledge in June to reach Trump's figure of 5 percent, a huge leap in military spending for most NATO countries.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gestures during a meeting with President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gestures during a meeting with President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 25, 2025.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
What To Know
It is "up to individual countries to decide" whether to put conscription in place, NATO chief Mark Rutte told The New York Times.
"Some countries will do it," Rutte said, speaking shortly after the NATO summit in The Hague in late June. "Others will not do it, but it will mean, in general, paying good salaries for our men and women in uniform."
Several NATO countries in Europe already have different models of conscription, the need felt much more keenly on the alliance's eastern flank, staring down Russia. The nations with conscription typically also emphasize making sure their societies are ready for war, including by issuing public guides on how to cope during conflict.
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which have stormed ahead in raising defense spending, all have conscription, as do several of the Nordic countries. Turkey and Greece also have conscription. Other countries, like the U.K., have militaries solely made up of volunteer professional soldiers.
In Finland, which joined NATO shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, men must complete mandatory military service before heading into the reserve force. Finland shares hundreds of miles of border with Russia.
Sweden, which also became a NATO member after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, reinstituted conscription in 2017. Conscripts train with the Swedish military, and are put into a wartime unit to join if the government activates mobilization or high alerts.
In Norway, conscription is obligatory yet very selective, applying to men and women.
Denmark recently changed its laws on conscription, meaning women must also present themselves to be assessed for military service as they turn 18. Women previously joined the military purely on a volunteer basis.
Rutte said he was "particularly worried" about Europe's ability to roll out large amounts of military equipment. Russia is "on a war footing in every sense," Rutte said, adding: "The size of the military, what they're investing in, in their tanks, in air defense systems, in their artillery, in ammunition—it is amazing."
Rutte said during the NATO summit that the alliance will invest in a "five-fold increase" in air defense capabilities, as well as "thousands more tanks and armored vehicles" and millions of artillery rounds.
What People Are Saying
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said: "We simply lack the defense industrial base to produce the weapons we need to make sure that we can deter the Russians or the North Koreans or whoever to attack us."