Busted: European Plan for Compulsory Military Service for Men and Women Dates Back to 2017

"All young people should do military or civilian service in a European country for a minimum of nine months and a maximum of 24 months."

European People's Party chief Manfred Weber talks in the European Parliament while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks on (Photo: KAY NIETFELD / DPA / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)

He is a politician in the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who has been a member of the Bundestag since the 2017 federal elections. So he became a member of the Bundestag in the same year when he came up with the proposal for a "Europe-wide compulsory service for women and men". Since 2022, in addition to his parliamentary work, he has been serving as CDU's secretary general in North Rhine-Westphalia, under the leadership of chairman Hendrik Wust.

Ziemiak previously was the party's general secretary on the national level from December 8, 2018 to January 31, 2022, under the leadership of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Armin Laschet. From 2014 until 2018, he served as federal chairman of the Junge Union Deutschlands, in this capacity being a part of the CDU leadership under chairwoman Angela Merkel.

Back in 2017, Hans-Peter Bartels, then parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, believed that the "German law only allows citizens to be called up for compulsory service if it is necessary for the defense of the country". The idea of compulsory service is certainly "enticing, but not compatible with German or international law".

So in 2017, it was thought to be impossible within the framework of the time. And what does the current German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius propose?

In short: removing legal obstacles and creating a legal framework that allows this. 

 

It turns out Defense Minister Pistorius does not rely solely on volunteers in his military service model. The politician told Zeit Online that in the medium term, a regulation is in the works that would allow young people to be conscripted against their will.

It will not fully work without compulsory service,

the minister told Zeit Online.

 

But the German defense minister did not stop there, he is keen on extending conscription to include women.

However, the obligation to do so does not apply to young women, as according to the Basic Law, only men are obliged to do military service . Although Pistorius is in favor of amending the Basic Law on this issue, he assumes that this will not be achieved by the end of the legislative term.

Zeit Online reports that this can only be introduced gradually, as some 700,000 young people currently fall into the "eligible for military service" age category. And the Bundeswehr currently lacks the infrastructure to accommodate such a large number of conscripts. "It lacks the structures to register potential conscripts, as well as the barracks, trainers, weapons and ammunition to accommodate large numbers of conscripts." 

What do the 2017 and 2024 proposals have in common?

Compulsory military service for both men and women.

It's up to political scientists to explain why this presumably divisive proposal was thrown in by the German defense minister at the height of the election campaign. It will also be up to political scientists or psychologists to explain why Manfred Weber, who himself has previously spoken about these plans, recently described the whole thing as fake news.

Can we consider these proposals to be frivolous? Only if we also consider the proposers to be frivolous. But it would not be right to regard Germany's defense minister or Bundestag Member Paul Ziemiak as frivolous. 

We also know from experience that Europe's leading powers in Brussels also tend to believe strongly in stealth legislation, so it is only a matter of time before the part of the 2017 proposal

that involves EU member states forfeiting national powers to control at the European level,

is implemented.

We do have one idea why they are starting to turn their backs on their own proposal. Perhaps they have also conducted a poll on what people think about, for example, the question of whether soldiers from EU countries should go to Ukraine. The Nezopont Institute carried out a survey, finding that in the countries where it was conducted, well over 60 percent of respondents were against it. The Czech Republic showed the highest support among the countries surveyed, with 31 percent of the population backing the deployment of troops. 

 

Cover photo: European People's Party chief Manfred Weber talks in the European Parliament while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz looks on (Photo: KAY NIETFELD / DPA / dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)