If Germany does not get enough volunteers into its armed forces, it can start considering re -introducing compulsory military service from next year, he said on Saturday Defense Minister Boris Pistorius for Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS). TASR reports this based on Reuters report.
The country is trying to strengthen its military capacities from the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but according to Reuters it is not able to attract enough candidates. The German armed forces informed that they need to get another 100,000 soldiers in the coming years.
“Our model was originally based on voluntary participation,” Said Pistorius for Fas. “If the time comes when we have more capacity than voluntary registrations, then we can decide to make it an obligation,” added the German minister. According to him, the new law could enter into force on January 1, 2026.
Germany abandoned compulsory military service in 2011 and instead presented a system based on voluntary login. Pistorius, as part of measures to strengthen German military capacities, introduced a plan on Tuesday through which the country could gradually increase defense spending up to five percent of GDP.
