a minute agoGermany needs 100,000 more soldiers, plans restoration of mandatory military service
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)Germany will likely consider restoring mandatory military service next year. “If we fail to attract a sufficient number of volunteers to the armed forces, we need to return mandatory military service” said Defence Minister Boris Pistorius for Frankfurter Allgemeine Sontagszeitung. A NATO alliance member, Germany [...]
Germany will likely consider restoring mandatory military service next year.
“If we fail to attract a sufficient number of volunteers to the armed forces, we need to return mandatory military service” said Defence Minister Boris Pistorius for Frankfurter Allgemeine Sontagszeitung. A member of the NATO alliance, Germany is seeking to strengthen its military power following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but it appears to be failing to attract enough soldiers to its army ranks. According to the German armed forces, an additional 100,000 soldiers will be needed in the coming years to meet Germany's obligations to NATO.
The Christian Democrats, who lead the ruling coalition in which Boris Pistorius' Social Democrats are small partners, promote an increase in defence spending and declare themselves open to mandatory military service, which was abandoned in 2011.
Our “Model is based mainly on voluntary participation”, says Pistorius in his interview with Sunday's German newspaper, which is published today.
If the time comes, then we can decide to make the mandatory”, he adds, clarifying that a new bill in this direction could be submitted by 1 January 2026.
Compulsory military service in Germany was removed in 2011, under the direction of Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the aim of professionalising the armed forces (Bundeswehr) and reducing their size, reflecting also the desire to save resources and a more pacifist stance after the Cold War, reports TopChannel, Transmitt Periscope.
By 2011 all men aged 18 and older were forced to serve in the army or to perform alternative communitarian service. The mandate was introduced in 1956 and is still constitutionally guaranteed, but since 2011 it has been suspended and not implemented in practice.
The total force of Bundeswehr, German Armed Forces, reaches less than 261,000 people. Of these, 180,215 are military personnel, while another 80,761 are civil servants 1. /Periscope/
