Debate about reintroduction: what speaks against conscription

Defense Minister Pistorius thinks the suspension of conscription was a mistake. But is there a return? Hardly anyone is seriously committed to it politically. Why is that?

It was the new secretary of defense who threw the conscription stone in the water. But he didn’t make too many waves. There are many reasons for that. But first, back to the starting point. In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Boris Pistorius said: “If you ask me as a civilian, as a citizen, as a politician, I would say: It was a mistake to suspend conscription”.

The parliamentary army was better anchored in the middle of society due to the obligation to apply until 2011. “In the past, conscripts sat at every second kitchen table. That’s another reason why there was always a connection to civil society.” FDP leader Christian Lindner experienced no discussion, only a “ghost discussion”.

Today, CDU politician Henning Otte rates Pistorius’ serve as an “attempt to occupy an issue that has not been agreed upon in the traffic light coalition”. That’s why, the defense politician tells him ARD Capital Studio“this also has no chance of success”.

Pistorius himself provided a counter-argument right from the start.

Counterargument 1: The unwanted obligation

“But I have a problem with imposing a duty on younger generations.” This sentence can also be found in Pistorius’ interview. The Liberals see it the same way. Please do not speculate about a new compulsory service, especially Lindner. And not just because the idea runs counter to the world view of the FDP, which relies on personal initiative and freedom. They refer to everything that the corona pandemic has just burdened the boys with. You recall the shortage of skilled workers and speak of great damage if “an entire year of training and work” were to be prevented.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier knows this headwind. He had already initiated a conscription debate last year, far beyond the Bundeswehr. Steinmeier hopes “that even more people in our country will ask themselves what they can and want to do for the common good.” Despite all the voluntary commitment, young people replied to him at a round of talks in Bellevue Palace that politics should stay out of young people’s life plans. When some talk about compulsory time, others talk about compulsory service.

Counterargument 2: The barracks crisis

Shower container in front of the company building because the sanitary areas are closed due to the risk of legionella (Zweibrücken). Two toilets for 90 men and women (Idar-Oberstein). Leaky windows and overcrowded rooms (Eckernförde). If you leaf through Eva Högl’s military report, you will find many references from soldiers that illustrate the barracks crisis.

During her visits to the troops, the military commissioner Högl found the infrastructure partly “dilapidated”. The word “desolate” was also mentioned in relation to the accommodation of the soldiers. Quote: “Despite investments of 4.7 billion euros in the years 2017 to 2021, there is still a high investment and renovation backlog. Construction and renovation projects often take many years, in some cases even decades.”

None of this sounds like an invitation to house tens of thousands of additional conscripts. When visiting a tank battalion near Bielefeld, Pistorius said there were other tasks to be tackled “that cost a lot of money, energy and time”. That is now the priority. This also means the equipment of the Bundeswehr.

Counter-argument 3: The army of defects

Don’t shoot, don’t drive, don’t fly, don’t swim… The Minister of Defense definitely wants to delete the many “nots”. From Pistorius’ point of view, neither the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr nor the approximately 50 billion annual budget will be sufficient. But as long as the Bundeswehr is in the same condition as it is saved, there is little reason to employ a large number of additional soldiers with too little or defective equipment.

For example, the “Report on the Material Operational Readiness of the Bundeswehr’s Main Weapon Systems” states that on average three out of four of these systems work. Worst example: helicopters. The operational readiness is still only 40 percent. Whether it’s a shortage of barracks or dealing with new technologies: “Precisely for these reasons it is not expedient to discuss conscription according to the old model,” says CDU defense politician Otte.

Counter-argument 4: The expert army

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) initiated the suspension of compulsory military service, and Thomas de Mazière (CDU) implemented it. The Union defense ministers should save – and those who want to save have to downsize. The result was also a professional army with specialists for foreign missions. Tanks were mothballed, ammunition depots closed, barracks dismantled. But if you want experts, there is little you can do with compulsory employees rotating out and in.

Such experts will also be needed in the future because of increasingly complex weapon systems. Some prefer to speak of computers on tracks instead of modern battle tanks. Conscription would “stop us on the way to becoming a professional Bundeswehr,” warned FDP politician Johannes Vogel in the Bundestag this week. Whether in the air force or cyber reconnaissance: Specialists are in demand.

So just a ghost debate?

At the end of 2020, the AfD submitted an application in the Bundestag to reinstate conscription. At least twelve months for all men, that was her goal. At least 30,000 conscripts per year. All other factions were already against it at the time. The largest opposition faction sticks to their no. Instead, CDU representative Otte is promoting a “compulsory year of society”, which his party advocated at the last federal party conference.

On the other hand, not only the defense minister, but also the military commissioner Högl would like to at least think about conscription. “We have to start the debate now,” the SPD politician told the “Augsburger Allgemeine” in the middle of the week. But she doesn’t want to go back to the old model either, which would take years to come into effect, if at all. Instead, she advertises for more personnel for the Bundeswehr.

By his own admission, Naval Inspector Jan Christian Kaack has always been a supporter of conscription. He argues with a larger and better mixed force. Kaack refers to the Norway model: Of around 70,000 samples, only around 15,000 would be accepted. However, opponents refer to the principle of so-called military justice, which prohibits such a selection.

The loud political (re)thinking will not end anytime soon. For practical reasons alone, reintroducing conscription in its old form would require a long, multi-year start-up. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit summed it up like this: “You can’t just undo the conversion from conscripts to a professional army.” In this respect, the most recent debate is “a bit far (…) nonsensical”.