Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu wants to “modernize” the military census. He wants to identify the skills of “volunteer” citizens likely to strengthen the reserve.
The minister also wants to harden Defense and Citizenship Day (JCD), obligatory for all French as he approaches his 18th birthday. President Emmanuel Macron aims to double the number of reservists, currently 40,000, who support the more than 200,000 soldiers of the French army. The JCD was established after the abolition of military service in 1997 and falls under the Ministry of the armed forces. The French army has been able to participate in the major operations in which the French Army has been can participate in recent years, the minister said in an interview with LCI. The minister gave as an example the case of young citizens who have become “care workers who, when the time comes, can become reservists”.