Johan Wadephul is of the opinion that 80 million people cannot sit in the stands while 180,000 Bundeswehr soldiers are supposed to defend the republic. That’s why the first steps towards compulsory military service are needed now – and not at some point, emphasizes the deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The CDU politician calls on Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) to negotiate in the Bundestag; more properties and new barracks are needed for this.
Because the CDU made a major, surprising U-turn at its federal party conference. On March 24, 2011, the Union and FDP in the Bundestag decided to suspend compulsory military service on July 1 – now the CDU wants to go back to that step by step, with a new model. “We will gradually withdraw the suspension of compulsory military service and convert compulsory military service into a compulsory year of service. Until this is implemented, we are calling for the introduction of a compulsory military service quota in order to strengthen the Bundeswehr’s personnel readiness,” says a passage that was included in the new basic program . From the point of view of CSU boss Markus Söder, this is also important in order to give young people “a stronger connection to our democratic constitutional state”. All of this has not yet been spelled out in detail, but it is similar to the models recently discussed, such as the one in Sweden.
There, all men and women must fill out a questionnaire around their 18th birthday, including information about physical fitness – and declare whether they would be willing to do military service voluntarily. Then the most suitable people are contacted and asked to take part in training, as only a certain percentage can be trained each year. If there are not enough volunteers, there may also be compulsory obligations. However, anything that goes beyond the principle of voluntariness poses legal problems in Germany, the key word being military justice – if some people are obliged to do so but others are not. Therefore, the details of the initially planned contingent military service would be very important. In addition, women should actually be included today for reasons of justice. So far, the Basic Law only provides for compulsory military service – which has been suspended – for men.
It takes 20,000 new soldiers per year just to compensate for the departures
The CDU wants to gradually have a year of service that is compulsory for everyone, be it service in the Bundeswehr, in social professions or in disaster control or as a paramedic. Ukraine shows how important it is to have sufficient personnel in these civilian areas. The obligation could then apply to 600,000 Germans who have come of age per year.
Because of the tensions with Russia, the Union is pushing for quick solutions, because the Bundeswehr actually needs around 20,000 new soldiers every year to compensate for departures. The planned increase to 203,000 soldiers is a long way away, and there are too few reservists for an emergency. During the Cold War, 1.3 million soldiers, including reservists, could still be relied upon in the event of war. It used to be the case that some of those who did military service then signed up as temporary or professional soldiers.
Pistorius calls for the Germans to be combat-ready
Pistorius emphasizes that we need at least the possibility again to record and muster age groups – in any case, compulsory military service is only suspended until there is a situation of tension and defense. Otherwise you would have no basis for whom you could recruit at all. Pistorius coined the term “war capability” and, citing experts, believes that a war between Russia and NATO is possible in five to eight years.
His spokesman emphasized that the minister would make proposals this quarter, i.e. by June. He has recently shown sympathy for the Swedish model, since it would not be possible to oblige people to serve anyway due to the lack of barracks, trainers and weapons. That would mean recording everyone – but with voluntary military service.
This is already going too far for the FDP: Although it is open to models to gain an overview of the suitability of a year, he rejects compulsory testing, says liberal defense politician Nils Gründer. A new compulsory military service puts the responsibility on the shoulders of young people. “It is up to us to create the personnel and material conditions. Compulsory military service would lead to additional strain on the Bundeswehr and exacerbate the problems.”
Those deemed fit would have to declare whether they wanted to serve
It is interesting in this context the debate in the Bundestag on the suspension of compulsory military service in March 2011. “Minister de Maizière, let us be careful about giving away skills too easily,” said SPD politician Hans-Peter Bartels at the time. “There can be rapid political change – for the better and for the less good. We should therefore not quickly find ourselves in the position of having to say: The Bundeswehr can no longer do this.” The SPD voted against the suspension, Bartels suggested at least maintaining registration and mustering. Exactly, what Pistorius is now demanding again.
Bartels was later also the military commissioner. In conversation with the South German newspaper He said that one does not have to rebuild the structures of the district military replacement offices for a muster, but that this could perhaps also be done through general practitioners, company doctors and military doctors. Bartels advises his party, and thus also Pistorius and Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), to simply implement their own suggestions from 2011. So a military registration and muster for everyone. Those deemed fit would then have to declare whether they would also serve voluntarily.
If this number were high enough, as many recruits as required could be drafted based on suitability and need. In an article for the magazine E European security & technology he called the model “compulsory compulsory military service”. He suggests a number of up to 40,000 per year, of whom perhaps 10,000 would continue to enlist as temporary soldiers. Bartels welcomes the fact that the debate is finally gaining momentum thanks to the CDU decision. “We’ve already wasted far too much time.”