Status: 02/24/2023 07:12 a.m
Chancellor Scholz has spoken out against the reintroduction of conscription. That makes “no sense,” he said. At the same time, he opposed a push by Defense Minister Pistorius for general conscription.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke out against a return to conscription and thus rejected Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’ initiative to introduce general conscription. “I don’t see that on the agenda now,” Scholz told the “Bild” newspaper.
He pointed out that the Bundeswehr had been expanded into a professional army since conscription was suspended twelve years ago. “Therefore, the return to conscription makes no sense. The question of compulsory service is linked to that,” said Scholz.
Pistorius had brought up general compulsory service
Pistorius had brought up the introduction of general compulsory service. “I expressly did not speak out in favor of the reactivation of conscription,” he emphasized a few weeks ago. Rather, he considers the discussion about a general obligation to serve “valuable”. He stated that he saw good arguments for general compulsory military service in Germany to strengthen civil protection, the German armed forces and rescue services. In order to form a political opinion on this issue, however, the voices of younger people must be heard, he explained.
Conscription was suspended in 2011 after 55 years, which in practice amounted to the abolition of military and community service. The Russian attack on Ukraine repeatedly fueled debate about reintroduction. According to widespread understanding, the term general service obligation means that citizens perform a service for the general public for a certain period of time. The Bundeswehr could then be an option alongside other activities, for example in the social sector.
Pistorius: “It was a mistake to suspend conscription”
Pistorius told the Süddeutsche Zeitung in January: “If you ask me as a civilian, as a citizen, as a politician, I would say it was a mistake to suspend conscription.”
The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Eberhard Zorn, recently rejected the reintroduction of conscription according to the old model, but was open to a new type of compulsory service.