The Federal Ministry of Defence is cautious in its response to the possibility of compulsory release of reserve soldiers by employers. The corresponding demand has “of course been taken into notice”, a ministry spokesperson said on Monday in response to a query from the German News Agency.
In general, however, the reserve of the German Federal Armed Forces will remain indispensable in the future for both national and alliance defence, as well as for homeland security and deployments in the framework of international crisis management. “We need a strong and reliable readiness capacity, which is indeed part of the discussed military service model proposed by the minister”, the spokesperson added.
From the perspective of the federal government, it is crucial that reserve soldiers have the opportunity to be best trained and to maintain their training in exercises. “We want to keep them in the system and for that, we are of course dependent on the understanding and support of employers”. According to the ministry, however, very many employers are already open to these exercises. The existing system of the double principle of voluntary service is not to be adapted at present.
Earlier, the Commander of the Land Command of North Rhine-Westphalia of the German Federal Armed Forces, Brigadier General Hans-Dieter Müller, had advocated in the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” to re-obligate employers to make reserve soldiers available for military exercises. “At the moment, it’s almost entirely voluntary, as both the reserve soldier and the employer must agree to such a military exercise”, the highest representative of the German Federal Armed Forces in North Rhine-Westphalia said.