From voluntary to obligatory? Germany, which is struggling to recruit soldiers, will have to decide by July 2027 at the latest whether or not to return to compulsory military service, a senior parliamentary official, Thomas Röwekamp, announced to AFP. Faced with a growing Russian threat, and an unpredictable American ally, Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants to build the most powerful conventional army in Europe, increasing the number of career soldiers from 185,000 to at least 260,000 by 2035. To this end, voluntary military service has been created, as well as a compulsory census for men the year they turn 18.
But the first data are disappointing, so much so that the idea of conscription to compensate for the absence of volunteers is on the table. The Bundeswehr only recruited 530 volunteers from January to May, while around 300,000 young people were contacted. “If we do not achieve these goals through voluntary service, we will have to return to compulsory conscription. The decision must be taken by July 31 next year,” said Thomas Röwekamp (CDU), chairman of the defense committee of the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament.
“I still have serious doubts about our ability to achieve” these “very ambitious” objectives on a voluntary basis alone, he added. Compulsory service, if introduced, would not concern the entire age group, estimated at around 350,000 German men aged 18. Rather, it will be a conscription each year of the number of young people necessary to achieve the annual recruitment objectives of the Bundeswehr, specifies the official. “My main concern concerns (…) the increase in the number of career soldiers under contract, because they are the ones who pilot combat planes, navigate ships, drive tanks or operate Patriot defense systems,” he underlines.
Concern among young Germans
Asked about the youth movement against military service which regularly mobilizes crowds in Germany, Mr. Röwekamp said he “understands their concern”, because since the end of military service in 2011, after the end of the Cold War, young people are no longer aware of security issues. “We no longer spoke with the younger generation about the themes of war, peace, the need for defense,” notes this conservative MP.
“I therefore plead for us to engage in dialogue with this generation,” continues Mr. Röwekamp, recalling that Berlin believes that Russia’s armed forces will be ready for a direct military confrontation with the West by 2029. For him, Vladimir Putin’s objective, beyond his war in Ukraine, is to defeat Western liberal democracies.
Accelerate rearmament
Europe must therefore accelerate its rearmament independently of the United States, on the one hand because of Donald Trump’s desire to reduce its presence in Europe, but also because the American military-industrial complex is not able to supply the European armies in a context of repeated international crises. For Thomas Röwekamp, it is a question of Europeans developing their own military resources, on the basis of needs and not on the basis of the interests of industrialists from different countries. A reference to the failure of the Franco-German plane of the future (SCAF) project, against a backdrop of rivalries between Dassault and Airbus.
“I readily recognize that, in the past, joint arms projects have often been strongly influenced by national industrial interests, including in Germany. But I believe that it is now clear to all stakeholders that these national industrial interests no longer constitute the right answer,” notes the elected official. According to him, Franco-German cooperation is still working, citing the example of the KNDS group, Berlin and Paris having agreed in June on joint governance of this tank manufacturer.
Debates in Ankara at the beginning of July
This theme should be discussed at the NATO summit in Ankara at the beginning of July. Thomas Röwekamp finally hopes that after the recent change of heart by the American president, who expressed his support for Ukraine, this summit will send a clear message to Vladimir Putin. “It is more essential than ever to reaffirm our desire for unity. Because, I think that one of the objectives of the war led by Putin is also to attack the cohesion of the alliance,” he underlines.
