Shortfall in Troop Numbers Due to Young People's Reluctance for Military Service
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has stated that conscription could be reinstated.
On the 22nd (local time), the inauguration ceremony of the German 45th Armored Brigade "Lithuania" was held at the Cathedral Square in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. From the left, Brigadier General Christoph Huber, Commander; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz; German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius; Carsten Breuer, Federal Inspector of Germany. Photo by EPA Yonhap News
On the 24th (local time), in relation to the proposed amendment to the Military Service Act, Pistorius told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), "For now, we are focusing on voluntary participation," but added, "Our plan is that if the time comes when we need more personnel than there are volunteers, we can decide to implement conscription."
Previously, the German government has been working to increase its military personnel based on the assumption that Russia could invade a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member state within a few years. However, as voluntary enlistment has not increased significantly, there have been calls within the political sphere to reintroduce conscription, which was abolished in 2011. At the time conscription was abolished, the goal was set to increase the number of troops to over 200,000 by 2018.
Last year, the Ministry of Defense temporarily put conscription on hold and prepared an amendment to the Military Service Act that would survey 18-year-old men and women about their willingness and ability to serve, and then accept voluntary enlistments. However, the debate over conscription reignited after Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took office earlier this month, advocated for 'security independence' from the United States.
Minister Pistorius was initially opposed to conscription due to insufficient facilities such as barracks and training grounds. However, on this day, he stated, "We expect facilities to increase more quickly than previously anticipated," and announced plans to recruit an additional 5,000 personnel by the first half of the year following the implementation of the new Military Service Act, and to continue increasing troop numbers annually thereafter. As of January, the number of active German Bundeswehr soldiers was approximately 183,000. This is about one-third the size of the South Korean military. As the tendency among young people to avoid military service intensifies, even this number has been declining. German authorities have postponed their original target of reaching over 200,000 troops to 2031.
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