Armies: how the executive intends to double the number of reservists

William Molinié 7:33 a.m., November 23, 2022

Preparing for the possibility of war from the rear.

On Monday, a working group was launched at the Ministry of the Armed Forces to boost operational reserves.

These volunteer citizens number 40,000 today.

The Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu, has a target of 80,000 personnel to reach 100,000 reservists including retired soldiers, a ratio of one reservist for two active soldiers (210,000).

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Towards a doubling of the budget?

For this, the executive is considering removing several obstacles.

“Access to the reserve must be a right”, supports the entourage of the Minister of the Armed Forces.

The maximum age in the reserve could thus be increased by five years.

It could reach for certain functions 77 years, as is the case today in the health service of the Armies.

In addition, certain physical conditions could also be relaxed.

"A candidate who is unfit but who has interesting cyber skills must be able to be recruited", we continue.

Another major challenge is to change the image reflected by the reserve in companies.

Too many reservists do not declare themselves to their employer and ask for days off or RTT to serve in the reserve.

"This is subject number 1", according to a source at the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

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Today, employers have the obligation to release their reservist employees at least eight days a year, with the possibility of reducing to five days for companies with fewer than 250 employees.

Finally, there is the question of the budget.

It is now around 175 million euros.

Will it also be doubled?

Nothing is decided yet.

All this must be debated in the military programming law which should be voted on at the beginning of next year.