Germany's Merz says compulsory military service could be reconsidered
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday said his coalition's plans for a voluntary military service could be reconsidered.
"I share the assessment of the defence minister that we are already short of a high five-digit number of soldiers in the Bundeswehr," Merz said after a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Berlin.
The Bundeswehr is Germany's military.
Merz said the government will "have to take a close look" at whether programmes and voluntary service are sufficient to recruit enough soldiers to fill the army's ranks in line with new NATO targets. "If voluntary service is not enough, then we will have to discuss additional steps very soon."
However, Merz emphasized that additional measures would not be in breach of his conservative bloc's coalition agreement with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).
The agreement states that the government "will create a new, attractive military service that will initially be based on voluntary participation."
The chancellor highlighted the word "initially."
SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch had previously said that there would be no negotiations on a possible return to conscription during this legislative period.
"The coalition agreement clearly states that we are committed to voluntary service," Miersch told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper. "Conscription can then be negotiated in the next legislative period, if necessary, but not in this one."
The new parliamentary commissioner for the armed forces, Henning Otte, told German broadcaster ARD that the troops must be protected from excessive demands, adding that compulsory military service might be required.
"I will put this on the agenda again," Otte said, "and I will do so before the end of this year."
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