CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra pleaded for the reintroduction of conscription on Saturday. Conscription in the Netherlands has been on hold for a quarter of a century. If it is up to Hoekstra, that will change.
Hoekstra wants about 200,000 young people to join the armed forces or opt for social service every year. “They can spend six months or a year on strengthening our armed forces and national security, or on a social task, such as care and welfare.
According to the CDA Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, the war in Ukraine ‘has forced us to face the facts’. “Security, democracy and a strong society are not free, that is a hard lesson,” says Hoekstra.
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