Defence Minister Guido Crosetto on Wednesday ruled out bringing back conscription to boost the Italian armed forces but said that more professionally trained personnel were needed.
“There has never been any talk of compulsory conscription,” he said on the sidelines of the celebration of 101 years of the Air Force in Guidonia near Rome.
“We live in difficult times in which, if anything, there is a need for many trained professionals, not citizens doing a year of conscription”.