Salaries, staff, objectives… Outline of the government’s National Voluntary Service project

Alice Rufo, Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Armed Forces, spoke on Sunday on franceinfo about the creation of this National Service, based on volunteerism.

Emmanuel Macronasked the TNI Ministry to do it“a project for voluntary military service, said Alice Rufo, Minister Delegate of the Minister of the Armed Forces, in Franceinfo on Sunday, December 23. The new formula for military service is based on volunteerism, of which the international editorial staff of Radio France was able to confirm some detailed elements in a Tribune Dimanche column, from a source close to the matter.

This system designed by the government uses volunteerism as the keyword. He’s trying to recruit”tens of thousands of young adults each year“, to train them”more than ten months” for military professions, but also for technical specialties employed in the armed forces. These services will be performed without compensation. The project also intends to promote the skills that have been acquired by certain young generations, in particular in the handling of computers or information tools, which are considered strategic for the army.

Participants are not intended to be directly involved in military operations. At the end of their training, the project plans to transition them into operational reserves, likely to be mobilized for specific missions, such as the Sentinel system.

This voluntary National Service should replace Universal National Service, which was abandoned in the autumn of 2024 due to its costs and the low operational importance of the troops. Teams from the Ministry of the Armed Forces and the general staff continue their work, but the funding of the system remains to be arbitrated, in the context of tense budget negotiations for 2026. Contacted by franceinfo This week, the Élysée did not confirm the information published by La Tribune and specified that the head of state would speak in due course.