Gauthier Delomez
, modified at
10:11 p.m., December 18, 2021
Invited in the program “Europe Soir”, the Secretary of State for Youth and Engagement Sarah El Haïry was in favor of a universal national service obligation, which lasts one month, for 15-17 year. The measure would concern between 700,000 and 800,000 young people in France.
Engagement must be a priority for young people aged 15 to 17. This is the reflection of Sarah El Haïry, Secretary of State in charge of Youth and Engagement. Guest on the show Europe Evening, the 32-year-old Secretary of State clarified the contours of the universal national service, launched in 2020, which concerns between 700,000 and 800,000 young people throughout France. This one-month mission, on a voluntary basis, could become compulsory in the weeks and months to come. This is in any case the wish of Sarah El Haïry.
A civil or military engagement then
“The first phase (of the universal national service) is destined to become compulsory in a certain way”, affirms the Secretary of State on Europe 1. This first phase is today the one-month training provided to young volunteers between 15 and 17 years old. “We need a parliamentary debate. We are a great democracy (…). Me, I wish (the obligation, editor’s note), and I fully assume it. Moreover, that was the project carried by the president of the Republic, ”adds the spokesperson for the Democratic Movement.
Because behind this service, there is the mission that the secretary presents as “phase 3”. “If I succeeded in making emerge the seed of citizenship, our young people will want to supplement, that is to say to continue their engagement which can take the form either military or civilian”, explains. she. The military form being to join a reserve of the gendarmerie, the police, or the navy, and the civilian form being that which is not “in uniform”, such as civic service or a European volunteer body. “It can also be a longer volunteer commitment”, specifies Sarah El Haïry.