In the event of any expansion of the Czech Army, the restoration of military service is not under consideration, but the government will seek more accessible ways to expand capacity that work on a voluntary basis, President Petr Pavel said in a debate at an assembly of the Council of Universities yesterday.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) has also said that returning to some form of compulsory military service is not the right way for the country to proceed.
Chief of the General Staff Karel Rehka told Czech Television on Sunday that even after the potential end of fighting in Ukraine, Russia would not become more friendly or predictable, and so the capacity of the army must be further increased.
According to Rehka, the intended rise in the number of professional soldiers to 37,500 deserves analysis. Even given demographic developments and the current levels of recruitment, he said, it is not realistic to implement, and it will be necessary to consider other models of building up the army.
Pavel mentioned Nordic countries as one inspiration, where he argues hybrid models have been seen to work. A large part of the army there is made up of professionals, especially in positions requiring long-term specialised training. Another is open as military service, which is compulsory but has sufficient social credit that it is filled almost exclusively by volunteers, he noted.
“But it really requires working with what is sometimes sidelined today, and that is service to one’s country. To give it enough social credit,” said Pavel.
Norway, for example, has a one-year service with an option to extend it for another six months, and a large percentage of people actually extend it, he said.
“It has quite a big impact for them because on any application for further employment, if they have on their CV that they have served their country, it greatly increases their chances of getting a job,” Pavel noted.
Applicants usually do their service between secondary school and higher education. Service in the military then earns them a significant number of credits needed for university admission, he said.
In an interview with Denik.cz server yesterday, Fiala said the return to some form of compulsory military service was not the way the Czech Republic should go, and would not bring any benefit.
“I am convinced that we should continue building a professional army. We should do what our government is doing, which is to modernise it, and modernise it quickly,” he said. The concept of active reserves should be developed and efforts should be made to recruit more people to the army, he added.
According to the current plans for building up the Czech army, it should have 30,000 enlisted soldiers and 10,000 members of the active reserves by 2030. There are now some 23,600 soldiers in the army and about 1,000 more soldiers have been added in the past five years, said Rehka.
He said the update of the army’s build-up goals, which should be approved this year, foresees an increase in the number of enlisted soldiers to 37,500. Thus, over about a decade, their ranks should be increased by about 14,000.
