Chancellor Frederick Merz wants to make Bundesvehar the strongest army in Europe, which will require better equipment and more personnel than the current 183,000 soldiers. To follow the NATO guidelines, Bundesvehar needs to add another 60,000.
Merz’s Center-Restic Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian Sister Party, Christian Social Union (CSU), and Center-Left Social Democrats (SPD) coalition government agrees that Bundesvehar should be expanded. But they have different opinions as to how to get it.
SPD has proposed voluntary military service. However, the draft bill prepared by the Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) was scheduled to approve by the cabinet in late August, already meeting with resistance from within CDU/CSU.
Now one of the most important security policy issues before Germany, ie its defense capabilities, are creating discord within the governing alliance.
Voluntary military service
The Draft Law asked to make the voluntary military military attractive by 2026 without reproduction of compulsory military service, which was suspended in Germany and then Defense Minister Carl-Thodor Zoo Gutenberg (CSU) in 2011. Today, Chancellor Frederick Merz believes that this is a mistake.
The coalition agreement between SPD, CDU and CSU states: “We will create a new, attractive military service, which will initially be based on voluntary special.”
The word “voluntary” is highly imported in social democrats. They reject mandatory military service, arguing that it encroachs a lot on the lives of young people.
The Defense Minister Pistorius is confident that the attractive model for voluntary military service will attract enough young people. He recently predicted that it could easily bring “an average of 25,000 to 30,000 every year”.
A significant increase in salary, as well as modern and expanded training courses, which include subject discovery as drone operations, language courses and the opportunity to obtain the license of the driver, is to attract new soldiers. The minimum long of service will be only six months.
However, not everyone in CDU and CSU shares the optimism of the Defense Minister. He argues that in the current stressful security situation, it is not enough to rely on attracting volunteers.
In an interview with German daily newspaper WorldCDU/CSU Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Norbert Rootegen criticized the draft law, saying there was no specific figure or deadline, when Germany should achieve its goals to increase the size of ETS armed forces.
“For NATO’s goals we have told ourselves that they are completely missing,” Rotgen ended. “This means that there is no yardstick to determine that we are on track or need to adjust.”
He concluded: “We cannot make mistakes that we see clearly.”
Not quite voluntary after all
Although the draft law will keep military service voluntary, some compulsory aspects will be included. According to the Defense Minister’s plans, all 18 -year -old men and women will get a letter from Bundesvehar next year. A QR code on the letter will link to an online questionnaire, who is asking about the desire to serve in Bundesvehar. Men will be requested to fill it, while women will be encouraged to voluntary.
The purpose of the questionnaire is to encourage the youth to actively consider whether they can work in the armed forces.
The number of youths included in the voluntary list in the armed forces has already increased. At the end of July, the total number was more than only 11,000, which represents an increase of about 15% compared to the earlier year.
The new law will have to undergo a medical examination for all youth, even if they have not expressed interest in military service. The Defense Minister proposed, medical examination became mandatory for all 18-year-old men starting in 2028, which to move forward for one year due to pressure from center-rights MPs.
CDU legalist Norbert Rotegen feels that it is still too late, calling it a irresponsible security policy.
Learn from sweden
This proposal to start a questionnaire follows the example set by Sweden. However, in Sweden, young people need to serve in the army if the needs of the army require a number of voluntary applicants. This condition arises regularly, and the questionnaire serves as the basis to determine who is chosen to serve. In Germany, there is no plan to use questions in this way.
But what if the improvement in voluntary military service is not successful as the Defense Minister? Or if the security situation deteriorates dramatically?
The new law provides that in this case the government will be able to restore mandatory military service with the approval of Bundestag.
SPD Parliamentary Group leader Mathias Meres has stressed that there will be no talks on returning to compulsory military service before the new elections in 2029.
On the other hand, CDU and CSU parties, urge rapid action, as they suspect the success of the new voluntary military service and indicates a growing threat from Russia.
Thorson Freei (CDU), Head of Chancellori, Thorson Free (CDU) for the German press agency said, “We don’t have time to wait until cows come home; DPA,
Since the compulsory military service was repeated only by law, but stated in the Constitution, it can be re -activated by a simple parliamentary majority. In the event of a crisis, Defense Minister Pistorius has said, it will be possible to return to compulsory military service quickly.
This article was original in German.
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