Austria Sends Military Service Reform Draft to Consultation, Eyeing a 2027 Start
After a cabinet meeting in Vienna on Wednesday, October 7, Austria's government announced that the draft laws for its reform of military service and civilian service (Zivildienst) would go out to a five-week public consultation running until November 12. The government plans a National Council vote in December, with the reform to take effect on January 1, 2027. State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried of the Interior Ministry presented the package alongside Ernst Gödl, parliamentary leader of the People's Party, and Yannick Shetty, parliamentary leader of NEOS, describing it as the largest military service reform in two decades.
At its core is a "6+3" model: six months of basic military service, followed by one month of troop exercises and two months of militia exercises spread over ten years. It marks the first return of compulsory militia exercises in more than three decades. Under the stated principle of "training instead of sitting out time," unproductive waiting during service is to be cut sharply. Conscripts' monthly pay would rise from 625 to 1,000 euros, with a statutory right to leave days for the first time. The induction process is to be expanded into a "health track" that will also be open to women.
Civilian service would not be lengthened across the board. It stays at nine months, with a trigger mechanism: if the number of basic servicemen in a calendar year falls below 13,875, civilian service would rise to eleven months from the following year. Gödl said that, on current figures, civilian service could first become longer in 2029. Civilian servicemen could also extend voluntarily by two months, and voluntary work such as serving as a paramedic could be credited.
Because the civilian-service elements touch constitutional provisions, the package needs a two-thirds majority in the National Council and therefore the support of at least one opposition party. A third and, for now, final round of talks between the government and the Freedom Party on October 6 ended without agreement; the party's defence spokesman, Volker Reifenberger, said the government had made almost no concessions on civilian service. The Greens welcomed the start of consultation, with their spokesman David Stögmüller saying they would take the feedback seriously and demand improvements. Gödl told reporters the reform was "a question of state policy, not party politics," and expressed confidence in reaching a workable solution by the end of the year.
The reform package was first presented by the government on July 27 and has been under negotiation with the opposition for months. After the consultation closes, the bills go to parliament.
Sources: Austrian Federal Chancellery statement of October 7, 2026, APA reporting and party statements issued the same day.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 参加联合演习的奥地利联邦军士兵。摄影：7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command，CC BY 2.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
