Denmark will include women in mandatory military service, already existing for men, and will increase the length of service from the current four months to eleven months for both sexes, all starting in 2026, within the Nordic country’s general plan to strengthen its army and its defense.
“We are not rearming because we want war, destruction or suffering; “We are rearming to avoid war, in a world where the international order is being challenged,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at a press conference on Wednesday in Copenhagen, in an indirect allusion to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Social Democrat Frederiksen also said that the coalition government – ??which includes centre-right parties – wants “full equality between the sexes”.
Denmark currently has about 9,000 professional soldiers in addition to the 4,700 conscripts, who receive basic military training. Not all men of draft age (18 years) are called up; Those selected by lottery go. The Executive wants to increase the number of recruits to 5,000.
Currently, women can already do military service as volunteers, and in 2023 they represented 25.1% of the replacement, according to official figures. In any case, both men and women may – in their case, may – claim conscientious objection and provide a civil service.
In this way, Denmark will become the third European country – and also the third Nordic – with mandatory female recruitment. In 2017, neighboring Sweden reinstated mandatory military service for men and women after having abolished it in 2010, when it was only for men, because there were then enough volunteers to cover its military needs. Norway introduced compulsory military service for both sexes in 2013.
The measure is part of Danish rearmament. The new defense budget implies that Denmark will allocate 2.4% of its GDP to defense this year if military aid to Ukraine is included, and from next year it will be 2% without including donations, Prime Minister Frederiksen clarified.
It will also invest in air defense systems and a heavy infantry brigade of up to 6,000 soldiers by 2028. “Denmark should not be a country protected by others, and it is not unreasonable to expect or demand that all allies fulfill the promise we have made to each other.” each other,” Frederiksen said.
Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, of the Moderates party, argued that the measures are being taken as a form of deterrence. “Russia does not represent a threat to Denmark,” Rasmussen said, “but we are not going to put ourselves in a position where they can do it.”
