Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s president, said on Thursday that the final decision will be taken in the next two weeks, but added he envisaged men serving a compulsory 75 days in the armed forces, while service would be voluntary for women.

While questions marks remain over whether Serbia can afford to reintroduce conscription, the fact that both the president and Milos Vučević, the prime minister, support the move suggests that it is only a matter of time before national service returns.

In 2011, Serbia suspended obligatory military service with the aim of “professionalizing” the armed forces. But due to rising tensions in the Balkans and Europe, the country seems ready to reverse this policy.

Last month, Croatia, Serbia’s historical foe in the region, announced that it would reintroduce two months of compulsory military service from January 2025.

The reintroduction of national service reflects a change in military thinking prompted by the war in Ukraine.

Writing in the Serb newspaper Vreme, Milorad Stupar, a retired Serbian general, said that the “concept of small professional armies has failed.”

Countries needed large armies, he added, to secure the control of territory both at the front and the rear.