The government unveiled their plan for upgrading Denmark’s military capabilities. An investment of 143 billion DKK over the next 10 years, starting with 6.7 billion this year. The plan will be negotiated with the other political parties in Parliament after the summer break.
- The negotiations with the parliamentary parties will include the question of conscription (how many, who, and for how long) and the question of how to motivate people to stay in the military.
- Three political parties have already announced their positions in the future defense negotiations – DF (far-right) (they want conscription to be extended to 9-12 months; an increase of conscription from 4000/year to 20000/year; women, Faroese, and Greenlandic people should also be conscripted), DD (far-right) (they agree with most DF ideas, just not with the conscription of women), SF (socialist) also support longer conscription but want better opportunities for them to remain in the defense forces afterwards.
- Conscription today is 4 months long (with exceptions). A conscript gets 8,647 DKK per month and free accommodation in the barracks.
- What are the expectations for the 143 billion? Better salaries (people are resigning from the army because they can earn more in civilian jobs); Building maintenance (the military buildings are moldy and decaying); More conscripts also means more barracks to be built; Acquire new weapons (Denmark cannot protect itself against missile attacks).
