Enhancements to Military Service Structure by The Union will be Implemented
The first meeting after the summer break of the federal cabinet will take place at the Ministry of Defense next Wednesday, with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and the Union faction in the German Bundestag set to discuss plans for the new military service.
The purpose of the meeting is to decide on strategies to address the Bundeswehr's shortage of personnel. The Union, led by Thomas Röwekamp, Chairman of the Defense Committee, has serious doubts that the goal of bringing tens of thousands of new recruits to the Bundeswehr each year, as aimed by Minister Pistorius, can be achieved solely through volunteering.
From next year, a questionnaire will be sent to all young men and women, with men required to complete it and women having the option to do so. The questionnaire will ask about interest in serving in the Bundeswehr. Initially, the new recruits will be accepted on a voluntary basis.
However, Röwekamp suggests that if volunteering is not enough, conscription should be quickly reactivated to maintain peace. He proposes setting binding growth targets for each year to address the issue, rather than postponing it. The Union also suggests an automatic mechanism in the law that leads to mandatory conscription if targets are not met.
The Union plans to bring these necessary changes into the legislative process in the Bundestag. They believe the current draft law does not meet current security policy challenges and does not provide a steady growth of soldiers year by year, as required.
Röwekamp refers to the "Swedish model" used by Minister Pistorius for his reform. The Union aims to include binding objectives in the new military service law that define how the number of recruits in the Bundeswehr should annually increase, with an automatic mechanism for compulsory service if these recruitment targets are not met.
The Union lacks more than 80,000 professional and conscript soldiers and 140,000 reservists for their own defense capability and NATO commitments. Minister Pistorius aims to increase voluntary military conscripts, modeling it after the Swedish system. Suitable candidates will then be invited for a medical examination.
The Union, led by Röwekamp, has criticized the current draft law for the new military service, stating that it does not adequately address the current security policy challenges. They are pushing for a more proactive approach to ensure the Bundeswehr has the necessary personnel to meet its commitments.
