Germany Has Agreed On A Law On Universal Conscription

This should increase the size of the armed forces by more than 40%.

Germany's ruling coalition parties have agreed to pass a law that would increase the size of the armed forces by more than 40 percent.

Service will be voluntary and compulsory: all young men will be registered for military service, but at first those most suitable and willing to serve will be drafted. However, if there is a shortage of soldiers, conscription will become mandatory.

After weeks of deliberations, the ruling CDU/CSU bloc and its Social Democrats in the coalition government have approved the new conscription law, Bild reported.

The specific details will still be debated by Bundestag deputies, but the agreed basic provisions should allow the Bundeswehr to increase its strength to 260,000 by 2035.

According to the bill, all young people, both boys and girls, will now receive a questionnaire when they reach the age of 18, which is designed to find out if they have an interest in military service and the ability to perform it. For men, filling out the questionnaire will be mandatory. The aim, the document says, is "so that the Bundeswehr knows to whom it can turn in case of a national defense emergency and so that the policy of universal conscription is restored."

The new military service law means: anyone can go into the service, and will also be obliged to do so if there is a shortage of soldiers, Bild notes. "The Bundestag is passing a law to introduce conscription based on necessity, in particular if defense policy or the manpower situation in the armed forces requires it," the paper says.

For volunteers, who will be selected based on the results of questionnaires, the service is proposed to make more attractive: they will earn about 2600 euros before taxes per month, and with a term of service of one year, they will be given a subsidy for a driver's license.

In the basic version of the service will be six months, including three months of basic training. But those who serve for more than a year will be considered a cadre soldier and will be paid accordingly.

The German army has been shrinking in recent years and now has about 182,000 soldiers. Berlin also needs to increase the number of reservists who can be called up in the event of hostilities from 60,000 to 200,000. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to turn Germany into Europe's most powerful military power. The country is implementing a rearmament program to counter the growing aggression of Russia, which has been waging a war of conquest in Ukraine for nearly four years and could, according to NATO, go into armed conflict with EU countries in the foreseeable future.

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