Germany should return to conscription from 2025, the country’s armed forces chief said on Tuesday (12 March), as the defence ministry works on a new model inspired by Scandinavian countries.
Germany abolished conscription for its male citizens in 2011, but in the wake of the war in Ukraine, the government reintroduced it in a bid to boost the country’s defence capabilities.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces expressed hope that a new form of conscription could be introduced in the coming period to address the shortage of personnel in the Bundeswehr.
EU citizens may be able to join German armed forces
“I welcome the fact that the debate on conscription is gaining momentum. If at the end of this period we have something like a rough concept that can be implemented in the next period [from 2025], I would be very pleased,” Eva Högl of the SPD told reporters while presenting her annual report on the state of the armed forces.
The commissioner’s comments come after the annual report highlighted that Germany’s military build-up is progressing slowly after years of underfunding its armed forces.
The size of the Bundeswehr has shrunk compared to the previous year, and “even in the second year of the Zeitenwende [Germany’s efforts to rebuild its armed forces, the ‘turning point’], significant improvements in personnel, equipment and infrastructure are still a long way off,” the report said.
Högl argued that a debate on conscription was ‘urgently needed’, adding that the armed forces could be opened up to EU citizens.
As Der Spiegel reported last week, the first steps towards conscription have been taken, with German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius instructing his ministry to ‘present options for a scalable model of German military service by 1 April that can contribute to the resilience of the nation as a whole, even in the face of short-term threats’.
But Högl and Pistorius believe that Germany’s current model of compulsory military service for male high school graduates is outdated.
On a trip to Scandinavia last week, Pistorius said he was ‘in favour’ of the Swedish model. Since the reintroduction of conscription in 2017, the Swedish armed forces have built up a large reserve of reservists.
Based on a survey of skills and interests, about a quarter of 18-year-old Swedes are invited to an annual military examination. A smaller proportion are offered basic military training.
FDP and Greens take a cautious approach
But with Pistorius’ SPD coalition partners, the Greens and the FDP, sceptical, it is doubtful that any significant progress will be made in the current period.
Sara Nanni, the party’s leading MP on defence, told RND that the Greens were in favour of a basic concept, but that conscription was the wrong way to go.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the FDP, chairwoman of the parliamentary defence committee, argued that Germany’s armed forces need experts rather than recruits, which would make conscription too costly compared to its benefits.
