Abandonment or postponement? According to information from our colleagues at L’Opinion, the compulsory national universal service (SNU) for 16-year-olds will ultimately not be part of the military programming law. The latter will be presented on Tuesday April 4, 2023, in the Council of Ministers. The cause ? The government does not wish to throw oil on the fire, in a context of exacerbated social anger in the face of the forced passage of the pension reform, adopted by the use of article 49.3 of the Constitution. “In the context, we thought that adding an ingredient to an explosive cocktail was not a good idea,” a ministerial adviser told BFMTV.
The SNU, set up by Edouard Philippe in 2019, is the indirect successor to military service in France. This program, open to people aged 15 to 17, consists of a two-week stay during which participants wear uniform and practice physical activities while strengthening their citizenship skills. Joining this program, which has already brought together thousands of young people, will therefore remain on a voluntary basis… For now?
The generalization of compulsory universal national service should have concerned 800,000 people per year. On the executive side, it is hoped that this abandonment will in fact only be a postponement of the system. “The SNU will be dissociated in other announcements”, assured the Minister of the Armed Forces… While Pap Ndiaye, the Minister of National Education, has shown his desire to see the measure gradually become compulsory from the start of the 2024 school year.
