The parliamentary commissioner for the federal army, Eva Högl, has proposed to recover the medical examinations of all the young people of a fifth, prior to recruitment by the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, as a measure to encourage voluntary military service and solve the deficiencies of staff. In statements to the press, Högl pointed out that it would be a formal invitation to young people of all sexes, while stressing that it is not about reintroducing compulsory military service, which was abolished in Germany in 2011, but about encouraging the debate opened by Federal President Frank Walter Steinmeier, to establish a year of “service for Germany” in civil or military fields for all young people.
“Following the example of Sweden, all the young people of a fifth could be called to undergo the medical examination of the federal army and then, if they are declared fit, allow them to decide if they want to do the service or not,” said the Social Democratic politician in an interview. with the information portal ‘t-online’, where he considered that the recovery of compulsory military service “would not mean any help”, since “we do not have enough instructors or infrastructure.” With the abolition of this system during the tenure of Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Germany simultaneously abolished the alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors, but since the beginning of the latest Russian invasion of Ukraine both services have become the subject again. current in this country.
consult the young
Högl already proposed at the beginning of the year to seriously discuss “how much compulsory, how much voluntary” are necessary to reinforce the Bundeswehr, since the German armed forces “in any case need more personnel” and these needs are not met through the professional army . Also the federal chancellor, the Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, and his defense minister, Boris Pistorius, refuse to reintroduce conscription, but the latter recently pointed out that there are good arguments for establishing a general conscription to strengthen civil protection services, the army and rescue, that is, ambulances and firefighters. Pistorius stressed that young people should be consulted about this possibility.
While the liberal partners of the tripartite that governs Germany consider that there are great legal and political reservations when it comes to approving such a service, the conservative opposition is open to such a measure. At the last congress of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) the delegates approved a motion in favor of establishing one year of compulsory social service for young people of all sexes. This service could be carried out “in hospitals, social institutions, the federal army, civil protection or firefighters, through recognized aid organizations abroad, but also in the fields of sport, culture or associations for the protection of the nature”, says the initiative of the CDU.
Pistorius has questioned whether the Bundeswehr’s goal of increasing its personnel by 2031 to 203,000 soldiers can actually be achieved. That would be 20,000 more than the current 183,000 professionals in the German armed forces. “I am not able to venture whether we will be able to reach that figure,” said the defense minister during a visit on Thursday to the Federal Office for Personnel Management of the Bundeswehr in Cologne. The Social Democratic politician highlighted that since the coronavirus pandemic there has been an appreciable setback in the number of young people who voluntarily enlist as professionals in the army and stressed that the army is also suffering the consequences of the shortage of specialized labor and demographic change .
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