The French leader addressed troops in Cesson-Sevigne, near Rennes, and warned of an “accumulation of threats” that were forcing France to adapt. He also presented an updated strategy for the country’s defense priorities, calling for a “European strategic awakening.”

During his speech, Macron said he wanted to offer French youth a "solid commitment" and "give them the choice to serve."

"We will have to better identify volunteers, train them and be able to mobilize them when the time comes to reinforce the armies in mainland France or elsewhere. After the professional army, this is the reserve that we must mobilize to support..." he said.

This decision was made at the Elysee Palace to strengthen the French armed forces against the background of "increased danger" due to the armed conflict on the Ukraine.

Macron said he had asked the government and military leadership to come up with proposals by May to "allow young volunteers to learn with the armed forces and strengthen their ranks."

"We will have to better detect volunteers, train them and be able to mobilize them when the day comes to reinforce the armies in mainland France or elsewhere," he stressed.

Attracting more volunteers should allow France to strengthen the military without re-establishing compulsory national service, which was abolished in 2001, Macron said. Paris' goal is to have 210,000 active servicemen and 80,000 reservists in the armed forces by 2030.

According to media reports, Macron discussed his idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force during meetings with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, earlier this month. Tusk later told journalists that Warsaw has no plans for such action.

In an other hand, it is interesting that France has been announced to participate in the NATO exercises currently taking place in Eastern Europe, Steadfast Dart 25 , but unlike other countries of the alliance, its role is not specified in any way . There are no photographs or press releases about the transfer of French troops and equipment, unlike Spain, Great Britain and Italy. Moreover, Germany, for some reason, is not participating in these exercises.

Some experts have suggested that the real purpose of the Steadfast Dart 25 exercise may be to reduce the readiness time of NATO's rapid reaction forces in the event of a decision to deploy troops to Ukraine.

In recent days, European media have reported on preparations for the deployment of British and French soldiers in Ukraine following a possible ceasefire agreement , as well as on the holding of French special forces exercises in this context. We have detailed our thoughts on this topic in our previous post.

Let us recall that at the end of last year, Emmanuel Macron announced his intention to introduce a European contingent of almost 90 thousand soldiers to Ukraine . It was noted that this would require at least five brigades, which is 25-30 thousand servicemen, or 75-90 thousand taking into account rotation and excluding support personnel (the same numbers of servicemen were recorded during the previous exercises " Steadfast Defender 24 ").

In addition, over the past year, the media has repeatedly raised the issue of the possible dispatch of French troops to Ukraine, including special forces, instructors and regular units.

Thus, given France's active position on the issue of introducing troops into Ukraine and concealing its role, forces and means in these exercises, it is quite possible that it will be French servicemen who will be assigned the role of being the first to enter , if such a decision is made.

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