Communication Paves the Way for Reinstating Conscription, Expert Says

The issue of re-introducing compulsory conscription divides German politicians. While Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is in favor, the Social Democrats are divided and the Free Democrats strongly oppose it. Reinstating conscription in Germany is dangerous, because what Germans implement will later appear at EU level, the expert points out.

Soldiers of the 21st Air Defense Missile Group and Ukrainian soldiers line up at the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania military training field, where Ukrainian troops are trained on the Patriot surface-to- air defense system. (Photo: dpa Picture-Alliance/AFP/Bernd Wustneck)

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, member of the German Bundestag (FDP), chair of the Bundestag's defense committee and the FDP's top candidate in the European Parliament elections, at a press conference on the state of security and defense policy (Photo:dpa Picture-Alliance/AFP/Lorenz Huter)

The FDP does not want any kind of compulsory service,

said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a liberal politician of the German Free Democratic Party (FDP), who is running as her party's top candidate in the European Parliament elections. The FDP's defense expert instead calls for the activation of 900,000 reservists in Germany  due to Russia's threat.

Nowhere does the majority of society support conscription, Zoltan Kiszelly underlined.

Ahead of the elections, Scholz presents himself as the chancellor of peace and German society is divided. There is the mainstream within the Social Democratic Party (SPD) that prefers to speak outwards and there are the so-called good cops who don't, but they will vote in favor of it and later say, you see, that's what Brussels also wants,

the expert emphasized.

The proposal, known as the Weber-plan, was first put forth in 2017 by the Junge Union, which proposed to introduce military service for women and men across Europe.

The document published by the Junge Union (the youth organization of the Christian Democratic Union, CDU, and the Bavarian Christian Social Union, CSU) explicitly proposes that "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". 

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A commitment to a European Defense Union involves transferring national competences to the European level, read the draft proposal by the Junge Union's board.

Cover photo: Soldiers of the 21st Air Defense Missile Group and Ukrainian soldiers line up at the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania military training field, where Ukrainian troops are trained on the Patriot surface-to- air defense system. (Photo: dpa Picture-Alliance/AFP/Bernd Wustneck)