Austrian referendum will decide conscription question

[Cosmos]

From various online news sources ; my own summary.

On Sunday January 20th 2013 Austria will have a referendum to decide if it will continue with conscription or have a professional army instead.

At present, all Austrian men fit for service must spend six months in the military or undertake nine months of civilian service as an alternative.

Neutral Austria is one of only six EU countries to retain conscription. Seventeen countries have abolished it since the end of the Cold War.

The miltary in Austria presently consists of about 21,000 active personnel and about 24,000 reserves.

---------------------------------------------------

Information about Austria from the CIA World Factbook

Total Area ¦ 83,871 sq km

Population ¦ 8,219,743 (July 2012 est.)

Main Religion ¦ Roman Catholic 73.6%

Life expectancy at birth ¦ 79.91 years

Military service age and obligation ¦
registration requirement at age 17; males under the age of 35 must complete basic military training (6 month duration); males 17 to 50 years old in the militia or inactive reserve are subject to compulsory military service

[VinceW]

If a country is going to become neutral like Sweden,Switzerland and Austria they should each have the capabilty to withstand the largest military that is out there I wouldn't recommend that Austria follow Sweden's lead and reduce their forces they should increase their Air Force and keep the Army at least the same size even though the Soviet threat to Western Europe is over.

[Listy]

Ooooh, thats why Casanova was posting endless Austrian army related spam.
It makes sense now.
Thanks cosmos.

So whats the general feeling amoungst Austrians? Will it get abolished? More importantly will she be able to meet her armies needs with normal recruitment?

[VinceW]

Austrians voted to keep conscription 60% to 40%.

http://www.dw.de/austria-voted-in-fa...ion/a-16535795

[Naffenea]

Surely they have a professional core around which to base their conscripts?