defense
Söder is again calling for compulsory military service to be reintroduced
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder advocates a return to compulsory military service. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
The Bundeswehr is suffering from a shortage of personnel. But compulsory military service has long been abolished. Should there be a way back? The CSU boss has been saying for a long time: Yes!
CSU boss Markus Söder has called for a reintroduction of the Conscription reaffirmed. Germany is facing completely new challenges in terms of security policy. “Our country needs 100 percent defense capability. The reintroduction of compulsory military service is an important building block for this,” the Bavarian Prime Minister told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. Söder envisions a medium-term window of five to seven years for such a step. Specifically, there should then be “a reasonable basic training of at least seven months for young men”.
Compulsory military service was suspended in Germany in July 2011 after 55 years under the then Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU), which in practice amounted to an abolition of military and community service. This is also because practically all the necessary structures have been dissolved, although conscription is being revived in the event of tension and defense. A reintroduction of compulsory military service is met with resistance primarily from the FDP, but also from the SPD and the Greens.
At the same time, Söder advocated making voluntary military service more attractive now. “This includes higher financial support and a bonus for later studies or training,” he said. “Functioning defense is the only way to secure our freedom and prosperity in Europe in the long term in times of new threats and wars.”
Pistorius has models of compulsory service examined
Colonel Ulrich Kirsch, long-time head of the Bundeswehr Association, is also clearly in favor of compulsory military service. He knows that the reintroduction currently does not have a party political majority. “Nevertheless, it is urgently necessary to talk about this in detail. We need a broad social debate with a timely result,” he told the paper. According to his account, the Bundeswehr is currently lacking around 20,000 men or women.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is currently having models of compulsory service examined due to the changed security situation after the Russian attack on Ukraine. These include the model practiced in Sweden, where all young women and men are screened and a selected portion receive offers of service. This is a type of model obligation.