Pistorius examines Swedish conscription model

Compulsory military service has been suspended in Germany - a mistake for Defense Minister Pistorius. The Bundeswehr is struggling with a personnel shortage. At the same time, the troops have to do without 500 million euros. Pistorius is considering introducing a new model of compulsory military service.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is having models of compulsory military service examined in view of a shortage of personnel in the Bundeswehr. One of these is the model practiced in Sweden. "There, all young men and women are conscripted and only a selected number of them end up doing their basic military service. Whether something like this would also be conceivable here is part of these considerations," Pistorius told the newspaper "Welt am Sonntag". He is examining all options. "But every model, no matter which one, also needs political majorities," he said.

Compulsory military service was suspended in Germany in 2011 after 55 years. Shortly after taking office, Pistorius described this as a mistake that could not be corrected in the blink of an eye. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz had rejected a debate on a return to compulsory military service in February. Now Pistorius said: "There were reasons to suspend compulsory military service at the time. In retrospect, however, it was a mistake." Re-introducing it now would be structurally, constitutionally and politically difficult. He is therefore looking at other models.

The coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and FDP states: "The Bundeswehr must be demographically stable and balanced in the long term, also with regard to its age structure." When asked how this is to be achieved, Pistorius said: "We set up a personnel task force in August. I have now seen the first extract of its work, which involves 65 very specific proposals for recruitment, recruitment, training and entry requirements." Implementation will start at the beginning of the year, said the Minister.

Budgetary savings for the Bundeswehr "acceptable"

Pistorius defends the coalition agreement to cut half a billion euros from the Bundeswehr's budget for 2024 as "acceptable". "It hurts to have to do without 500 million, but it is still acceptable under the circumstances," said the Defense Minister. It had been agreed with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz that this saving would remain a one-off and only apply for 2024.

"One thing is clear: the budget situation is difficult. Other departments also have to make savings," said Pistorius. However, he insisted on increasing the defense budget in the medium term. First of all, he wanted to invest "as much as possible and as quickly as possible" of the money from the debt-financed special fund "before inflation eats up large parts of it".

The budget compromise of the traffic light coalition stipulates that the Bundeswehr's expenditure for replacement and upgrading amounting to 0.52 billion euros will come from the 100 billion special fund for the armed forces instead of from the budget. This means that the money is no longer available for other purposes. However, the target of spending two percent of economic output on defense is to be met.

No major foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr

Pistorius does not anticipate any further foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr on the scale of the one that has just ended in Mali. "At the moment, I don't see us repeating missions as large as Afghanistan or Mali," said the SPD politician. However, smaller engagements, particularly in the area of military advice, remain important. "I believe that cooperation is essential, even with countries that may not all share our values. The alternative would be to no longer have any contacts with these countries and to leave them to the Russians and the Chinese from the outset. And that would be even more dangerous."

Even after the end of the Bundeswehr mission in Mali, strategic contacts in the Sahel region are still needed, said Pistorius in Wunstorf near Hanover, where he received the last German soldiers from the mission in Mali. "I will therefore be flying to Niger at the beginning of the week." There were 120 men and women of the Bundeswehr at the Niamey air base in Mali's neighboring country of Niger. The future of this mission is uncertain following a military coup in the country.

The last Bundeswehr soldiers returned from Mali on Friday. The United Nations had declared the deployment of the Minusma peacekeeping force there to be over at the end of the year due to the precarious security situation and lack of support from the military government. Around 1000 German soldiers were still stationed in the West African country as part of Minusma before the withdrawal began.

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Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, considering the Budgetary policy of the Traffic light coalition, believes that introducing a new model of compulsory military service in Germany could alleviate the ongoing personnel shortage in the federal armed forces, as they currently lack 500 million euros and struggle with a lack of personnel.
Amidst discussions on potential models to reinstate compulsory military service, Boris Pistorius referenced Germany's ally, Sweden, which implements a conscription model that diverts only a selected group to perform basic military service upon all young men and women being conscripted.
As Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius criticizes the suspension of compulsory military service in 2011 - a decision he now regrets, since reinstating it in today's Germany would be considered structurally, constitutionally, and politically challenging.

Source: www.ntv.de