How would you vote ...

[Diouf]

In Denmark very few actually go there without choosing it themselves. The intake that started in August 2011 included about 2100 people , and 96 % of them chose voluntarily to enter this 4-month military service. This high rate of volunteers certainly has something do with the economic crisis, so some will choose this if they can get a regular job. The salary is decent enough.

[Diouf]

How is the Danish system actually considered a "draft", when only 100 people are actually drafted and the rest is there voluntarily ? Out of 30.000 Danish men who reach the draftable age every year ?

There are two intakes a year, the other one is a bit bigger (2900 people in 2011), so around 200 people are actually drafted, but, as you say, still not a lot considering that there are 30.000-35.000 Danish men draftable every year.

Historically way fewer volunteered, in the 70's it was about fifty percent and as late as 2006, the rate of volunteers was "only" 76 %. So it's only in the last five years that the rate of volunteers have been 87 % or higher, and you could question how much of a draft it really is now. Apart from the financial crisis, other reasons for the high rate of volunteers are a reduction of the number of people needed (from 5660 in 2006 to 5067 in 2011) and a higher rate of women (3 % in 2006, 10 % in 2011). Women are not a part of the draft, so when a woman enters the military service, she fills a spot that would otherwise have been filled by a drafted man.

The centre-left government would like to suspend the draft and only take in volunteers, you can't abolish it without changing the constitution which is very difficult in Denmark, but the current agreement on defence includes three opposition parties (Liberals, Conservative People's Party, and Danish People's Party) who are not very keen to do that. The agreement runs until 2014, and it's considered very bad taste to brake these agreements, so changes probably will not happen until at the earliest 2014, but currently the government's supporting party The Red-Green Alliance are opposed to the plans as well so a suspension seems unlikely. Despite wanting to suspend the draft, the government will like to keep the day where mental, and health tests are made, and the different kinds of military service presented. It's at this day that you, as it is now, inform whether you want to join voluntarily or want to be included in the draft. Furthermore, the government would like to make it obligatory for women to attend this day as well; a proposal which is backed by the opposition parties.

[Diouf]

Today the Danish government proposed to suspend the draft as a part of a 15 % cut in defense spending. But as I wrote earlier in the thread, the current agreement on defence, which runs until 2014, includes the Liberals, the Conservatives, and the Danish People's Party. The two former agree with the scope of the cuts while the latter prefers cuts not to exceed 10-11 % but all three opposition parties agree to oppose a suspension of the draft. This means that the suspension won't happen. The Liberal Alliance supports suspending the draft while the Red-Green Alliance is opposed to it but neither party is a part of the defence agreement so currently their opinions mean little.

[Diouf]

Why on earth is the Red-Green Alliance in favor of the draft ? O_o

They think the army should only consists of draftees because the alternative, a professional army, is worse. Their spokesman on the subject said that "we have seen plenty of professional soldiers around the world with strange attitudes towards human rights and those they are fighting against". They believe that the draft secures a diverse composition of the military which enhances internal scrutiny and common sense.