On Sunday April 30, 2023, Sarah El Haïry, Secretary of State in charge of Youth and the Universal National Service (SNU) was the guest of the program “Sunday in politics” on the France 3 Val-de- Loire. During her exchange with Noé Petit, an activist from the Young Ecologists, the latter affirmed that this service was never compulsory.
“You are opposing a fantasy,” she replied to Noé Petit, questioning the idea that the president thought of making this service compulsory. Nevertheless, this answer has reacted to many Internet users and political opponents. Indeed, it would seem that the president wanted to make it inevitable.
At the time of the 2017 presidential campaign, the president put forward the terms of universal national service. This subject had even been the subject of a publication on the social networks of Emmanuel Macron.
His project was therefore to impose military service on young people between the ages of 15 and 17. The latter was then composed of three distinct phases:
Moreover, on the site of the Universal National Service, one could read there a few weeks ago that “the stay of cohesion (phase 1) and the realization of a mission of general interest (phase 2) planned within the framework of the SNU are intended to become compulsory for an entire age group”.
However, the text was subsequently modified and now indicates its optional nature. For how long ?
