Sarah Harte: Gen Z won’t fight for Europe — and maybe they have a point
At the weekend, a journalist friend and I laughed at an article detailing how the German army struggles to recruit Zoomers. File photo: iStock
Every time I read another headline about the imperative of EU Rearmament, I can’t help but think of the Talking Heads song, "We're on a road to nowhere."
I guess you have to take the chuckles when they come. At the weekend, a journalist friend and I laughed at an article detailing how the German army struggles to recruit Zoomers. The Germans have invested €100 billion in new equipment for the German armed forces, but staffing is a problem.
Gen Z is not looking to die for their country or any other European country — a quarter of the young recruits who signed up in 2023 left the German army rapidly. My journalist friend joked: “What do you mean there are no flat whites on the frontline?” Joshing aside, maybe Gen Z has a point, but more of that later.
Sophia Besch, a senior researcher at the Washington Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, was quoted in the article as saying: “We have to ask ourselves what young Germans would be willing to fight for today. Is it Germany? Is it the European project?” She raises an interesting point.
What is the European project now? If we lose the compassionate postwar societies that make Europe ‘Europe’, what exactly are we being asked to defend?
As America steps away from giving us security guarantees, European countries are figuring out how to afford massively increased defence spending. As I wrote last week, spending on defence will necessitate deep cuts elsewhere, most likely to welfare, which is what the UK chancellor Rachel Reeves is hinting she will do in the spring.
The consensus seems to be that spending on defence will have to rise beyond 2% or 3% of the GDP. However, not everyone is on board. Earlier this month, international scientists released a manifesto against the proposal to rearm the European Union, countering the belligerent narrative we are being asked to swallow.
They point out that humankind “faces tremendous global challenges…the last thing we need today is the Old Continent to move from a beacon of stability and peace to becoming a new warlord”.
As the tom-toms of war sound in the background, it can feel like we are sleepwalking our way back to a darker past. The founders of the European project envisaged a united, prosperous, and peaceful Europe that would act as a bulwark against other European wars.
Unity was the ultimate goal after the carnage of the Second World War, with a consensus primarily constructed on Christian social teaching that included respecting human rights and an agreement to shield citizens.
As the EU has been hit by a series of challenges, including the 2007 financial crisis, austerity, Brexit, covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, policymakers worry about weakening social cohesion across Europe, a rise in political polarisation and a drift towards populism.
Is potentially cutting social welfare likely to exacerbate this drift?
The statistics on rising income equality within Europe vary according to the sources you consult. However, one Eurostat I read suggests that 21% of the EU population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion. A snapshot of our country shows a growing demand for support from the voluntary sector for basic necessities like food, heating and hygiene products.
Another concern across Europe is that younger generations have fewer opportunities and reduced social mobility than their parents due to the rising cost of living, precarious work, and lack of housing. None of this contributes to well-being and a sense of togetherness, a societal asset we must protect.
If we cut social welfare budgets for defence spending, which is polluted thinking, we create a world of even greater inequality and, therefore, greater political intransigence.
Suppose we allow Trump and Putin to define our European project and tilt us towards a world of aggression, war, and conquest, a zero-sum game with winners and losers. In that case, we presumably create fertile conditions for more Giorgia Melonis, Marine Le Pens, and Viktor Orbans to flourish.
Now is the time to strengthen the European Union and its values. Targeted investment in social cohesion is crucial to ensuring solidarity across Europe rather than cutting welfare.
To this end, while I am sympathetic to the Zoomers who leave the German army because they don’t want to fight, we should consider introducing a year, if not two, of national service for all young Europeans, with military and non-military options. We constantly read about how young people are floundering and suffering from high anxiety.
The pandemic led to an even greater atomisation and a lack of purpose, which the sociologist Emile Durkheim called ‘anomie’. Anomie can happen on an individual and societal level with a loss of sense of social belonging and a breakdown of social norms that keep us connected.
On the military side, armies fall far short of their recruitment goals. This might help to encourage suitable recruits into the defence forces. If this sounds too right-wing and North Korean or Israeli to you, Switzerland has a national service programme, yet neutrality is a core principle of Swiss foreign policy.
Compelling young people from diverse backgrounds to mix, collaborate, and work for a greater good, in this case, European ideals, would foster greater social understanding, civic pride, unity, and a greater sense of purpose.
Asking young people to get on board to generate enthusiasm for the European project could be a positive social integrator and a way to build a united Europe. It should be mandatory. There should be no exceptions for the children of the well-heeled to finagle their way out of service.
You could have the option to defer until after your education is completed. For example, if you were a junior doctor, you could give back to the State rather than head to the nearest airport after an expensive education heavily subsidised by the taxpayer.
Yes, it would be a huge administrative task, but we are at a turning point where we need to think big. The European Community is figuring out how to fund the war machine, so presumably, they can create a common fund to initiate a social cohesion project like this and fight for unity and peace.
More than ever, we need people to believe in a shared set of distinctly European values and to promote an understanding of what it means to be a European. To do this, we must remind ourselves why the European Union was established and what the last peak in nationalistic thinking led to.
We can rebuild a common European house without losing our souls. Part of that is fostering ecosystems that go beyond weapons and contribute to building a more resilient Europe in a time of conflict.
I can see it now: logos on recruits' T-shirts. Don’t dim your light; shine brightly for Europe.
