Croatia reports 97% response to mandatory military training drive

Defence Minister Ivan Anušić said that 97% of the young men invited to the new compulsory military training programme answered the call, a rate he claimed no other European country can match. The second‑generation cohort that began on 18 May saw its slots rise from 800 to 900 participants.

Anušić highlighted that only Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden also require such training in the EU. He noted the ministry’s €150 million investment over the past two years in Croatian defence firms such as Orqa, DOK‑ING, HS Produkt, Đuro Đaković and Končar, with more than 180 companies working on defence patents, seeing the surge in conscripts as a boost for both security and the national economy.