Overview

• Starting today, 17-year-olds receive a conscription registration letter that includes a QR code linking to an online questionnaire.
• The questionnaire has three modules covering general questions, a job-matching guide and an optional section to share contact details for follow-up.
• Defense will contact more than 200,000 youths in monthly batches of about 35,000, with a benchmark that a 1% response could yield roughly 350 recruits per month.
• Staatssecretaris Gijs Tuinman outlines an escalation ladder that could move from a mandatory survey to required interviews and selection checks, while enlistment remains voluntary.
• Tuinman says reintroducing an obligation to report for conscription is not needed now, as the military expands training capacity, while union Acom criticizes the approach as too voluntary.