Germany’s compulsory military service was abolished in 2011 by the Merkel II government, a coalition of CDU/CSU and FDP. According to a Bild article from March 4, the Union parties are now calling for a swift return to mandatory military service. Bernd Baumann, the newly appointed parliamentary chief of staff for the AfD’s Bundestag faction, stated in a ZDF interview that “the will to serve” must be clearly promoted among young people in the country again.
The CSU’s defense policy spokesperson, Florian Hahn, was quoted in the Bild article as saying, “The suspension of military service does not fit the current threat situation. By 2025, the first draftees will be marching through the barracks gates. We can’t just stand by and watch as the world becomes a more uncertain place.”
The CDU had announced a change in its policy at its party convention in May 2024, in the context of the Bundeswehr’s personnel shortage. The party plans to gradually phase out the suspension of military service and introduce a mandatory social year, replacing the current compulsory military service. Until this plan is implemented, the CDU is calling for the introduction of a so-called contingent military service.
At the beginning of March 2025, the CSU’s defense policy spokesperson stated that the country needs “a credible deterrent through willing and conscripted citizens in uniform.” The Bild editorial board supports this idea, stating, “NATO countries can no longer rely on President Donald Trump and the military support of the USA – especially not after the aggressive attacks on Ukraine and Europe.”
The Bundeswehr is currently short of around 20,000 men and women, with a planned deployment of 203,000 soldiers. Patrick Sensburg, the head of the Reservists’ Association and a long-time CDU Bundestag member, supports the idea of immediately reactivating military service. He states, “At least 20,000 conscripts must be called up by the end of the year. We can do this with the existing infrastructure and training capacities. We must then gradually extend military service to the entire age group and it must apply equally to men and women.”
According to the legal online publication Legal Tribune Online, to reactivate military service in peacetime, the relevant passage in the Military Service Act (WPflG) would need to be changed. The passage, which was added in 2011, states that the sections 3 to 53 of the act only apply in a state of tension or war. This was an exception and to change it, the passage would need to be removed.
AfD leader Alice Weidel had previously stated that a mandatory service of “two years” was realistic. “We are no longer capable of defending the country” she said in a television interview, also stating that military service “also serves the identification of the population with its army.” The article by LTO reminds readers of the developments in the old Federal Republic of Germany up to the present day, noting that the duration of the basic military service would exceed the previous high of the 1960s by half a year.