Speaking ahead of the announcement, Simon Kollerup, the defence spokesperson for the Social Democratic Party said that increasing conscription was a crucial part of rebuilding Denmark’s defence capabilities. 

“Denmark must once again have more conscripts, and that is because we need to strengthen our defence,” he told the Ritzau newswire. “We need a defence that has a wider recruitment base, and we need more young Danish men and women to be involved in conscription, because it is a strong foundation for a strong defence.” 

He would not, however, give details on how much conscription would be increased, saying that such details needed to be negotiated with other parties in parliament.  

“Exactly how many more young Danish men and women, and also potentially for how many extra months conscription needs to be increased, will be part of the negotiations on a future defence plan,” he said. 

Men in Denmark are required to register for conscription following their 18th birthday, while registering for conscription is optional for women. 

While the law in Denmark permits the Armed Forces to forcefully enlist male soldiers, the vast majority of young people taking conscription training, have chosen themselves to do so.

In 2022, 4,616 people completed their military service, all of them voluntarily, with just under 27 percent of them female. The standard service is four months, while specialised units (like the horse squadron) can serve up to 12 months. 

All three government parties said in January that they were in favour of conscription covering women as well as men in the future, and Kollerup said that “increased equality in conscription” was “an important priority”. 

The far-right Danish People’s Party has called for the number of conscripts to be increased fivefold.

“Today there are around 2,000 full-time employees, and we would like to reach 10,000 full-time employees,” Alex Ahrendtsen, the party’s defence spokesperson said.

“Annual work is related to how long you serve your military service. Today is four months. We would like the conscription period to be up to 9 to 12 months, and then we would like to have conscription for both men and women.” 

The party also wants conscription to cover citizens of the Faroe Islands and Greenland, who Ahrendtsen said “have great knowledge of the sea, the North Atlantic and the Arctic.”

“They will be fantastic in the fleet, where we are understaffed,” he said.