German government approved the legal framework that introduces military registration for young men. The whole concept initially focuses on voluntary service which should become more attractive, also through higher pay. Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) are calling for binding annual targets for increasing the number of soldiers.
A return to a full-scale conscription, repeatedly called for by CDU, has not been agreed upon. However, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius from Social Democratic Party (SPD) has formulated basic conditions for its activation. The German Parliament (Bundestag) will soon decide on the law now passed by the cabinet.
Higher pay as an incentive
German army (Bundeswehr) is chronically undertaffed and currently needs around 80,000 additional active soldiers. According to the Ministry of Defence, the number of ’military professionals’ stands at 171,650 men and women as of 1 July. According to NATO targets, their number is set to grow to around 260,000 in the coming years.
The main purpose of military service bill is to create the basis for a larger reserve. The plan is to start with 15,000 new conscripts and introduce compulsory medical examinations from 2027. For military registration, young men will have to fill out a questionnaire stating whether they are willing and able to perform military service. For young women this will be optional.
Minister Pistorius is also pursuing several approaches to make the military service more attractive. These include higher pay. In future, those performing military service will be paid as temporary soldiers and thus receive more than €2,000 net per month.
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CDU/CSU calls for binding targets
Based on the government’s proposal, the decision to enter military service will remain voluntary. Basic service should last six months, with the possibility of extending it to 23 months. After that, soldiers will become reservists, but the Ministry of Defense hopes that some of them will remain in the army.
We are short of 80,000 professional soldiers and 140,000 reservists. We can not fill this gap on a voluntary basis alone. — Thomas Röwekamp, CDU legislator
For CDU, however, such a scheme is not ambitious enough. “We are short of 80,000 professional soldiers and 140,000 reservists. We can not fill this gap on a voluntary basis alone,” said Thomas Röwekamp from CDU. Critics from CDU/CSU want the bill to include specific targets for increasing the size of the army. If these targets are not met, compulsory service would automatically be reinstated.
Compulsory service on the rise in the EU
Soon after the war in Ukraine had broken out in February 2022, some EU countries began to consider reintroducing compulsory military service. As an example, Latvia returned to compulsory service in 2023. Croatia is now preparing to take the same step. Similar debates on reintroducing compulsory military service are under way also in France.
At the moment compulsory military service is in effect in nine European Union member states (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden) though conditions vary greatly. The compulsory service usually lasts between six and twelve months, in some countries it applies also to young women.
