The bad winds blowing from the east of Europe, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is entering its fourth year, has made the old continent try to expand, country by country, its mobilization base. Germany announced months ago, for example, that it was considering recovering military service and, as of this Thursday, the details of that initiative have been known.
Although the German Army recognizes that it needs tens of thousands more soldiers, at the moment the obligation to perform military service will not be restored. This has been agreed upon by the Government parties after months of disputes. The Minister of Defense, of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), wants to launch the new miliwhich will be more attractive and better paid. “Other European countries, especially those in the north, show that the principle of voluntariness works if combined with attractiveness, and I hope the same thing happens here,” declared Pistorius, after the leaders of the coalition between the conservative bloc CDU/CSU and the SPD.
Already in 2026, it is planned to recruit 20,000 new volunteers, who will have a gross salary of 2,600 euros per month. The point of conflict between the parties that form the government coalition was triggered by the question of whether the German Army will be able to recruit enough personnel on volunteers alone so that Germany is in a position to defend itself. Currently, the Bundeswehr has about 182,000 soldiers, but, according to NATO specifications, at least 260,000 are needed by 2035. There will be conscientious objection, it is added.
Politicians from the Christian Democratic parties CDU and CSU argue that this ambitious goal can only be achieved with a return to compulsory military service. Or, at least, with a mechanism that automatically activates the return to compulsory military service in case not enough volunteers show up, but this point is unacceptable for the social democrats.
New obligations for young people
In the future, even those young people who have no interest in the Army will have to fulfill two obligations. The first is to fill out a questionnaire with a “statement of availability”, which will serve to confirm your physical condition and your willingness to serve in the Armed Forces. Women can answer the questionnaire and declare their willingness to serve in the Army, but they will not be required to do so.
Over the next year and a half, volunteers must undergo a medical examination to determine their fitness to be a member of the Army. Starting in July 2027, all young people born in 2008 or later will be tested nationwide. This will affect approximately 300,000 men.
The Defense Minister argues that this is the only way for the German Armed Forces to have a clear idea of who could be recruited in the event of a conflict. The recruitment process used to be managed through so-called district military recruiting offices, distributed throughout the country.
With the abolition of compulsory military service in 2011, these offices were completely dissolved. The Ministry of Defense is now working with great urgency to establish a new infrastructure for recruitment and is already inspecting possible properties. Furthermore, Pistorius has already stressed that the Bundeswehr’s new career guidance centers will have nothing to do with the outdated offices of yesteryear. Like those in Sweden, they are designed to be modern, bright and welcoming.
Those who do not see it clearly
The agreement on compulsory military service reached by the coalition government between conservatives and social democrats is generating criticism, especially among those directly affected. Quentin Gärtner, general secretary of the Federal Student Conference, told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) that the conscription law should be accompanied by a €100 billion initiative for the education and mental health of young people. “There is not the slightest sign that the state is willing to take responsibility for us,” Gärtner said.
Criticism also comes from opposition politician Sören Pellmann, leader of the parliamentary group of the Left party in the Bundestag: “Each coalition partner tries to attribute the agreement on compulsory military service as its own success, but the youth are the ones who lose out.” According to Pellmann, what the coalition has done has simply been to postpone the dispute. “You don’t have to be a fortune teller to see that mandatory military service will come,” he said.
