Bundeswehr
Coalition reaches agreement in dispute over military service reform
After a long struggle, negotiators from the Union and the SPD reached an agreement on military service. The parliamentary group will first find out the details on Thursday, then the public.
After long disputes, the Union and the SPD have agreed on a general model for the new military service. This was announced on Wednesday evening from coalition factions to the AFP news agency in Berlin. Details were not initially provided. The model will be presented to coalition MPs at a special parliamentary group meeting on Thursday morning at 8am; Then the public must also be informed about the details.
According to AFP information, the agreement was reached in discussions between Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and representatives of coalition factions. The meeting was attended by the leaders of the Union and SPD parliamentary groups, Jens Spahn (CDU) and Matthias Miersch (SPD), as well as defense experts from both factions.
As reported by the newspaper “Bild” in the evening, the model has now agreed to gather the entire youth group – this model has received great support from coalition politicians in recent days.
In the second step, according to “Bild”, a lottery system will be used if there are not enough volunteers for military service among the young men fit for military service. It then had to be decided by lottery who should join the Bundeswehr.
Is volunteerism enough for new military service?
In his original draft law on new military service, Pistorius initially relied on voluntary measures to attract recruits to the Bundeswehr. Unions have called for automatic conscription if there are not enough volunteers.
Specialist politicians from the CDU/CSU and SPD in the Bundestag had drawn up a compromise proposal in mid-October. Therefore, the lottery system is supposed to determine who should undergo mandatory collection – so this model does not regulate collection for many years. If the number of volunteers is insufficient, men selected according to the needs of the Bundeswehr must be drafted into military service using another lottery system.
A double lottery is apparently impossible
Minister Pistorius has rejected this double lottery process – which now seems no longer possible – and stopped the official announcement of the agreement by parliamentary representatives. His proposed law stipulates that the entire group of 18-year-olds must be mustered out by mid-2027. But there should be no compulsion to serve.
Those involved have been negotiating a new compromise for weeks. Pistorius and key representatives of the Union and SPD in the Bundestag recently expressed confidence that this will be successful by the end of this week.
Note: This article has been updated with additional details.
AFP
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