Germany’s Conservative Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul wants a return to compulsory military service.
“I have said this many times before and I stand by it: I am in favour of immediate conscription!” Wadephul said today in an interview with German media group Funke.
He added, though, that this would need to be decided by the entire coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD). “We need to discuss this within the coalition. The government has made proposals and now the parliamentary groups need to negotiate and decide what the law will look like,” he said.
“And, of course, the overall circumstances need to be taken into account.”
Wadephul – who gave the interview while onboard a military aircraft – said Germany needed to increase its defence efforts in light of continuing threats from Russia.
Asked whether he thought warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia could attack another European country were overblown, Wadephul responded: “We expect that a Russian attack is possible at the end of the decade. We must therefore strengthen our defence efforts in terms of equipment and personnel but there is no cause for panic.
“With our intelligence services, we are able to monitor Russia’s military behaviour at all times.”
With its recent airspace incursions, Russia was “testing” NATO, Wadephul said. “They want to know what we tolerate.”
The minister nonetheless appeared satisfied with the alliance’s reaction, saying: “I think we have responded very appropriately. It would be a mistake to overreact now. We are already seeing in the verbal confrontation that Russia is trying to turn the tables – that would certainly be the case if we were to respond with military force now.
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s goal is precisely to cause unrest. The best response to this is to remain calm. At the same time, we cannot assume that Putin will simply back down,” he said.
Wadephul added that Germany needed to improve its drone defence capabilities, saying the interior ministry was working on a draft law to improve the legal basis for that.
In the week starting October 6, the German Bundestag, the main chamber of parliament, will debate for the first time a draft law that mandates voluntary military service.
According to the proposed legislation drawn up by Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s administration, government and parliament would decide on a re-introduction of the draft at a later time if the personnel needs of the German army could not be met with volunteers.
If Germany wants to fulfil its NATO capability targets, the army will be in dire need of additional staff. According to internal sources from the armed forces, around 80,000 additional military personnel would be required by 2040 – making the speedy reintroduction of the draft more probable.
