Germany’s conservatives eye return to compulsory military service

BERLIN — Germany may need to turn to compulsory measures to get more soldiers into the ranks of its depleted military, say senior lawmakers from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservatives.

The government is drafting legislation to revitalize a shrinking Bundeswehr, but so far efforts to recruit more troops have relied on voluntary measures. Now, senior conservative lawmakers are warning that may have to be backed up by a return to the draft.

“If it turns out that the significant personnel needs for a Bundeswehr capable of defense and deterrence, especially in light of the new NATO plans, cannot be met through a purely voluntary model, compulsory elements will have to be introduced,” said Thomas Erndl, who represents the Christian Democrats on the parliamentary defense committee. 

The new model of military service is expected to include a limited registration process aimed at identifying young people who show interest or potential for service. But that is not conscription; rather, the goal is to encourage them to sign short-term military contracts on a voluntary basis.

Erndl pointed to the coalition agreement between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which says the revived military service will “initially” be voluntary — language that conservatives see as leaving the door open to possible mandatory service.

During his address to the German parliament in May, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, a member of the SPD, also underlined that the emphasis on voluntarism was “initial.”

“We still have too few people for what our armed forces must accomplish,” he said.

However, Pistorius has ruled out any prospect of a return to mandatory service in the immediate future.

“Conscription doesn’t help us at all right now, because we simply don’t have the capacity — not in the barracks, and not in training,” he said at the NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday. “These capacities must first be built up. Until then, voluntarism applies.”

Falko Droßmann, the SPD’s defense policy spokesperson in parliament, argued that the current debate is “completely missing the real problems we’re facing.”

Rather than a return to the draft, “I firmly believe that the new military service will be designed in such an attractive way that more than enough young people will choose to sign up voluntarily,” he said.

Droßmann also warned that Germany doesn’t have the barracks, equipment or infrastructure to handle a massive influx of conscripts. “To train thousands of young people, we also need the necessary accommodations, equipment and instructors,” he said. “None of that currently exists in sufficient quantity.”

Germany suspended compulsory military service in 2011, ending a system that had shaped both the armed forces and civilian society. Since then, troop numbers — currently at around 181,500 — have fallen well short of targets. Military union leaders now warn that up to 260,000 soldiers may be needed for Germany to meet its military obligations.

“We don’t believe that relying on volunteers alone will be enough,” said Patrick Sensburg, president of the Bundeswehr Reservist Association. “Without conscription, the Bundeswehr won’t be able to recruit enough soldiers, and we also won’t have a resilient civilian population.”