BRELIN — Germany will likely require compulsory military service to recruit enough soldiers in the armed forces, Chancellor Freidrich Merz said on Monday.
“We will probably … not be able to manage with the current voluntary system alone, but will need additional elements of compulsory military service,” said Merz at an event to mark the “Day of Industry” in Berlin.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is preparing a draft bill aimed at making military service more attractive – while also including mechanisms for the potential reintroduction of compulsory military service if volunteer numbers fall short.
Pistorius told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that the initial focus remains on voluntary service, as agreed in the coalition deal between his Social Democrats (SPD) and Merz’s conservative bloc.
The defense minister said his goal is for the bill he is introducing to include two provisions that could be activated if recruitment numbers fall short.
Germany suspended conscription in 2011. However, with a growing shortfall in personnel in the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, the debate over reintroducing some form of mandatory service has gained momentum.
Merz called on companies to give their employees the opportunity to take part in exercises as reservists.
“The Bundeswehr must return to the center of our society,” said the chancellor. “It was a mistake – as we know today at the latest – to suspend compulsory military service.”
The Bundeswehr currently needs around 60,000 additional active personnel, according to Pistorius. To meet this demand, Pistorius plans to improve pay and living conditions for volunteers.
Beyond that, the longer-term goal is to build a reserve force of 200,000 soldiers, according to Pistorius.
Pistorius said that if the numbers cannot be raised, there should not be a lengthy new legislative process. He stressed he has not made a final decision but said he “cannot rule it out.”
Söder: Compulsory military service ‘the future’
Merz’s comments came after Bavarian Premier Markus Söder said compulsory military service is “the future” for Germany.
“There can no bans on thinking, speaking and deciding on the issue of compulsory military service,” Söder said in Munich. “The question of yes or no to compulsory military service is being forced upon us from outside.”
“Compulsory military service and civilian service are the future,” he added. “Just sending out questionnaires would not be enough.”
Söder’s Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) is in coalition with Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CSU) and the center-left SPD at the national level.
The comments are likely to add pressure on the SPD to agree to a more ambitious national service target.
Söder called for German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, to be “deployed to the maximum” and once again spoke out in favor of a comprehensive missile defense system.
“This includes technology, absolutely an Iron Dome, not just for Berlin, as some have demanded, but for the whole of Germany.”
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