Renewed military draft sparks surprise interest among Croatia’s youth

ZAGREB – Croatia is resuming mandatory military training after nearly two decades, with the initial recruits joined by far more volunteers than officials were expecting.

Beginning this week, 800 Croats will fan out across three sites, where they will learn a range of combat skills, from shooting an assault rifle, to Krav Maga defence and operating drones. Around half of them are volunteers, and the other half were drafted. 

The authorities aim for most men born in 2007 – around 20,000 individuals – to be trained in batches by the end of 2026, with subsequent generations called up after that.

As Russia’s war with Ukraine grinds into a fifth year, countries around Europe are boosting their defences, increasing military spending and introducing military service programmes, with Germany pledging to build Europe’s strongest conventional army.

Croatia – a country of 3.9 million people – is the first in the volatile Western Balkan region to introduce compulsory basic army training, and will be joined by neighbouring Serbia later in 2026.

“We are positively surprised with the excellent results of the draft and high number of volunteers,” Defence Minister Ivan Anusic said. “Our goal is not to send our young people to the front or into a war, but to equip them with useful skills and teach them how to react in a crisis situation.” 

In October, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic discussed the two-month training programme in Parliament, telling lawmakers that Europe was “trying to respond to changed security circumstances, and this is part of our answer”.

Although Croatia has a professional volunteer army and is a member of NATO, the idea was met with widespread scepticism.

That is largely because while Russia feels far away in this part of Europe, scars from the wars in the 1990s that destroyed the former Yugoslavia run deep: thousands of men who were mobilised to defend Croatia after it declared independence were killed in fighting, along with civilians.

The country’s biggest opposition party – the Social Democrats – was among those that argued the programme should be mostly voluntary.

Training should be “conscription light, or training for those who are most motivated and most prepared”, said party leader Sinisa Hajdas Doncic.  

Its final shape is the result of compromise. 

In addition to room and board, recruits will each receive €1,100 (S$1,620) a month. Draftees also get priority for public sector jobs.

Most women, who can volunteer but will not be called up, will not benefit from this perk, nor will conscientious objectors, who will instead be allowed to join a civilian service.  

Students can defer service until they finish their education, but must enter it before they reach 29 years old. A total of 82 women are among the current batch of volunteers.

In Serbia, plans to reintroduce compulsory training are stirring similar feelings. 

During the days of Yugoslavia, all men over the age of 18 were required to join a year-long training programme.

The draft became chaotic during the country’s break-up, when hundreds of thousands fought in the wars or tried to evade it. It ended in 2011 in Serbia, well after the federation unravelled. BLOOMBERG