Croatia will bring back mandatory military service next year, the country's Defense Minister Ivan Anusic has announced.
Zagreb has obligatory conscription, but the practice was frozen in 2008 when a volunteer-based system was introduced. Anusic confirmed on Thursday that young draftees would serve under the same conditions as volunteers.
”The term will last two months, it [conscription] will start on January 1, 2025,” the minister told the broadcaster RTL, saying this aligned with what the government had already announced.
The Defense Ministry has increased salaries for military service members and is conducting the modernization of its weaponry, as agreed with other NATO members, Anusic added. The Finance Ministry had concurred that there should be no attempts so save money on the military, he stressed.
According to Croatian media, the ministry expects the military to take in between 4,000 and 4,500 conscripts annually; they will be summoned every several months in four or five waves and sent to boot camps at the Pozega, Sinj and Knin military bases. They will be taught basic infantry skills, but not the more advanced specialist professions required in the military.
Men who are eligible for military service but wish to avoid it can get medical exemptions, a delay for academic reasons, or permission to serve in the civil service as conscientious objectors. The latter category will be given civil defense jobs or contribute to various social services.
Those who do so are expected to serve twice as long as their counterparts in the military and get less compensation for their labor. Volunteers are currently getting €900 ($990) per month. Conscripts will reportedly be paid the same.
According to Croatian government statistics cited by the press, a total of 10,327 people volunteered for military training between 2008 and the end of 2022.
Last year, NATO member Latvia reinstated military conscription, claiming that its military needs more manpower and trained reservists for a possible conflict with Russia.
Moscow has called the claims that it intends to attack the US-led military bloc “ridiculous.” Washington has used the alleged threat to justify pumping more military aid into Ukraine.