Denmark fears invasion by Russia

On July 1, Denmark made military service compulsory for women.In Denmark, every year, all young people over the age of 18 are called Defence Day (“Forsvarets Dag”). From now on, women will join their male counterparts to take medical, psycho-technical and motivational tests on this day to determine their eligibility for military service.

They – and now they – will then be entered into a lottery to determine which individuals will be called up for conscription. it should be noted that the government only resorts to the drawing of lots if there is a shortage of volunteers to meet its needs.

The country also plans to extend the length of military service from 4 to 11 months by 2026. The aim is to train 6,500 conscripts a year by 2033, i.e. 40% more than at present. denmark currently has 9,000 professional military personnel for a population of 6 million.

The Nordic state, which on Tuesday took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months, adopted this historic measure in anticipation of a potential Russian threat in Europe, beyond the Ukrainian borders.

Its remilitarization is also intended to respond to pressure from US President Donald Trump, who is calling on NATO members to increase their military spending.

Denmark has relied on U.S. protection for decades, says Peter Viggo Jakobsen, professor at the Institute for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defense College. In his view, this has led to a “deterioration” in the country’s military preparedness. As a result, Denmark must “rebuild its armed forces virtually from scratch – because they are virtually non-functional”, he argues.

This reform to include women in military service was announced in March and adopted by the Danish Parliament in June: “Defense needs all the combat power we can mobilize […] This requires recruiting from across society,” Michael W. Hyldgaard, Denmark’s defense chief, announced in a press release in March.

According to Stephanie Vincent Lyk-Jensen, a researcher at the Danish Center for Social Science Research (VIVE), the reform is the subject of debate: “Some sections of the population, particularly women, find the reform unfair, putting forward other arguments relating to the fact that it is only women who bear children. But for a large part of the population, it’s just as important that women have access to military service on an equal footing with men”, she explained to Euronews.

Last year, Danish women already accounted for 24% of recruits, the highest rate in Europe alongside Norway. In comparison, women account for 10% of Europe’s military personnel, reports Euronews.

Among the Scandinavian countries, Denmark is the latest to include women in mandatory military service. Norway introduced it in 2016 and Sweden in 2017.

Faced with the growing threat posed by Russia, Denmark also announced in February that it would be allocating an additional 6.8 billion euros to defense spending over the next two years. It had already increased them by 5.4 billion a year earlier.