According to the latest developments in the transatlantic relationship, the CDU and CSU are pushing for the introduction of a mandatory military service, a point from their election program, in the event of a government takeover.
“The military service is one of the points we will bring into the coalition negotiations as the Union” said Johann Wadephul, vice chairman of the CDU parliamentary group, to the Tagesspiegel. With the Munich Security Conference having shown that the personnel question is a priority for the new government, the Christian Democrats, according to Wadephul, “will build on the existing model of Minister Pistorius with binding questionnaires for military recruitment.” They, however, “believe we must go beyond that.”
Even the former parliamentary defense commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels (SPD) told the newspaper that a new government would no longer be able to overlook the obligation to mandatory service if voluntary recruitment alone is not sufficient to meet the needs. The Bundeswehr, he said, is already too small compared to the previous commitments to NATO and for a Europe with fewer American soldiers, it is even more so.
The Social Democrats, as a potential coalition partner of the Union, are signaling willingness to discuss this point: “We are relying on Boris Pistorius’s model to strengthen the reserve” said the SPD’s defense expert Falko Droßmann to the Tagesspiegel, “but we will not rule out further, carefully weighed steps if they are necessary in light of the international situation.