The German government has promised to reform its dilapidated army. However, the weak economic outlook and the upcoming elections are slowing down the plans.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared the war that broke out in Ukraine two years ago as a “turning point” for the German army. He began pushing for reform of the country’s conscription law.
Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius according to which the army should be strong enough so that no one would ever make the mistake of starting a war against Germany.
Due to the Russian war of aggression, Germany decided to renew its armed forces and increase its defense spending by 100 billion euros. However, the report published in March says that the results have so far remained weak.
Now the German newspaper Focus tells about the many new problems faced by the country’s defense forces, the Bundeswehr, which threaten to defeat the government’s dreams of reform.
Generation Z is not interested in a military career
At the moment, young people representing the so-called generation z are reaching the service age. Their interest in voluntary military service is at a record low.
Conscription in Germany was abolished in 2011, and since then the number of soldiers serving in the country’s military has been in sharp decline. There are currently 182,000 soldiers serving in the army, which is the lowest number in the history of the Bundeswehr.
Germany has set a goal of having 203,000 soldiers serving in the country’s military by 2031, but it is currently far behind that goal.
In order to increase the attractiveness of the army, the German government is planning, among other things, to advertise military careers on the Tiktok application popular with young people.
The debt brake and the election game slow down the restoration of conscription
In Germany, there has also been discussion about reinstating conscription in order to increase the number of reservists who have received military training.
In the country, for example, the introduction of the so-called “Swedish model” has been postponed, in which about one-third of adults who have reached the age of service are selected, whose conditions for military service are determined. Later, about one in ten of those who participated in the call-ups are recruited for military service.
According to Focus, plans to restore conscription have run into difficulties due to the power struggle between the country’s current governing parties. Parliamentary elections will be held in the country at the end of 2025, and the social democrats and the greens, who are fighting for the valuable votes of generation z, do not dare to promote the return of conscription at the risk of a weak election result.
The liberal FDP party also has its own concerns about the restoration of conscription, which is concerned about the state of the country’s national economy and about taking on new debt.
Strengthening the army would require Germany to increase its current national debt.
According to Focus, organizing a year-long conscript and civilian service would cost more than 15 billion euros per year. Growing the current professional and volunteer army is believed to cost even more than this.
At the moment, it seems unlikely that the economy minister representing the FDP party Christian Lindner would agree to let go of the so-called debt brake.