Defense Ministry considering reintroducing military conscription after 27 years

For the first time in 27 years, the Ministry of Defense is considering reintroducing military conscription in the Netherlands. The Ministry has mapped out what would be needed to achieve this and found it to be a great deal. But if the countries around the Netherlands start reintroducing active military service, the Netherlands will immediately follow suit, RTL Nieuws reports based on a Defense document.

If the Netherlands were to call up all 17-year-olds for active military service, that would mean that Defense would have to accommodate and train up to 200,000 recruits per year. That is not going to happen. Currently, Defense is able to train a maximum of 1,000 recruits per year. In 2029, the armed forces hope to increase that number to 9,000, according to the broadcaster.

Still, the Ministry saw a need to explore the option of reintroducing military conscription because the Netherlands must prepare for a major military conflict in the coming five to ten years, it said in the document. According to the Ministry, the security situation in the world is deteriorating rapidly. “The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East and various other hotbeds have once again shown that security cannot be taken for granted.”

The Netherlands has a professional army of over 42,000 career soldiers. Defense is working on recruiting more soldiers and reservists to increase that number. “Reactivating compulsory military service” is the final option.

Onno Eichelsheim, the Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces, told RTL Nieuws that he requested this exploration. He stressed that there are currently no plans to reintroduce conscription. “That is not on the agenda now and not necessary.” He called the exploration a theoretical exercise and emphasized that it would take years for the military to get the necessary equipment, barracks, and training capacity together to make it a reality.