The Social Democrats’ coalition partners are pushing for a voluntary model after Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has called for compulsory military service, according to Spiegel.
Sara Nanni, defence policy spokeswoman for the Green Party, stated:
“I also think a viable solution to the personnel problems by the end of the legislative period is desirable. But compulsory military service is still not an option for me. It would alienate the younger generations and lead to less rather than more acceptance of the troops in society. We should continue to rely on voluntary action.”
Alexander Müller, defence policy spokesman for the FDP, stated that compulsory military service or peacetime military service “is a severe encroachment on civil liberties, on professional freedom, and on one’s own life plans, which is why we reject it.”
We liberals want an army of professionals, motivated, decently paid, who want to defend our country out of their own inner motivation.
Müller also stressed that modern weapon systems had become too sophisticated to be mastered professionally in just a few months.
“The days when you could win wars with masses of people who could barely handle an assault rifle are over.”
Pistorius instructed to “present by 1 April options for a model of military service in Germany that will make a scalable, threat-adapted contribution to national resilience.” The internal template suggests that the defence minister intends to present his own proposal for a model of military service ahead of the federal elections.
The Federal Minister intends to make a decision on compulsory military service during this legislative period.
To learn more about the Swedish model of conscription, Pistorius went on a business trip for a few days to Scandinavia on Tuesday. Since 2017, compulsory military service has been back in effect there, but in a different form than in Germany before its suspension. However, the minister declared:
“The Spiegel is usually well informed, in this case it seems to be better informed than me. I have never made a secret of the fact that I have a soft spot for the Swedish model.”
In Sweden, all school graduates are gathered by the army and then selected specifically to find men and women suitable for service in the armed forces. In recent years, Sweden has been able to attract enough volunteers for the military. Serap Güler, CDU member of the Bundestag and defence expert, pointed out:
The Swedish model can certainly be a model for Germany in some facets, especially general military registration.
At the same time, Sahra Wagenknecht, party leader of her own alliance, noted that the communications disaster in the Bundeswehr over the use of Taurus missiles had led to speculation in Russia about Germany joining the war.
“The fact that Pistorius is now fueling such speculation with a discussion about the reintroduction of compulsory military service is more than just stupid. Instead of banishing young men to barracks for a valuable year of their life, we need a meaningful social year for everyone and a return to a foreign policy that returns to the tradition of restraint and détente and is committed to resolving military conflicts through diplomacy and negotiations finish.”
The criticism by Wagenknecht is based on Russia’s publication of a recording of a conversation between senior German officers, including the head of the Air Force, Ingo Gerhartz. The officers discussed scenarios for operating the Taurus cruise missile if Germany supplied it to Ukraine.
However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that he explicitly rejected the delivery of the cruise missiles to Ukraine, while announcing an accelerated investigation into the leaked audio recording.
