Belgium sends letters to all 17-year-olds to do voluntary military service for €2,000 a month

This was announced by the Belgian Minister of Defense, Theo Frankenof the Flemish nationalist party N-VA, last Saturday, in a message on social networks: “Yesterday 149,000 letters were sent. All 17-year-olds in the country are encouraged to join the armed forces in general and to participate in voluntary military service for a particular year.”

The Belgian administration’s plan, presented in February of this year, responds to the “need for new personnel in the Ministry of Defense”, as emphasized by the minister, who explained that “a lot of new equipment is arriving” for which personnel are needed, in a context in which the country agreed to increase defense spending up to 2% of its GDP, to reach the objective set by NATO.

2,000 euros per month

Volunteer service will begin in September 2026 with military training 500 men and women between 18 and 25 years old, who will receive a salary of 2,000 euros net per monthalthough it is planned to increase the available places to 1,000 by 2027 and increase the number progressively until reaching a maximum of 7,000.

The young recruits will be in charge of surveillance tasks in both naval, air and land forces.

In addition to the annual volunteer service, the ministry will organize during the year briefings in all provinces of the country.

Reviews

In reaction to the sending of letters, several youth associations and movements throughout the country announced their decision to mobilize against this voluntary military service through the creation of the “Service for Peace” platform, indicated the agency Belgian.

The youth branches of several unions fear that the remuneration offered by the Ministry of Defense “could take advantage of the precarious situation of young people and make the militaristic rhetoric be socially acceptable for a generation seeking socioeconomic stability.

Its objective is to express shared concern about the “gradual normalization” of militarization among young people and to denounce the “exploitation” of a generation “already weakened by precariousness, inequality and the climate emergency”.

With this measure, Belgium recovers the offer of a public military service to the population, three decades after the suspension of its mandatory format in 1993, although on this occasion young people will voluntarily decide to participate.

The country thus reactivates a measure already implemented in 16 European countries (10 in the European Union), among which the recently incorporated Germany stands out, which will carry out mandatory recruitment by lottery from 2026.