Thomas Rövekamp, chairman of the Bundestag's Defense Committee, said that a decision to restore compulsory conscription in Germany should be taken no later than the summer of 2027 and advocated the establishment of mandatory annual targets for the personnel of the Bundeswehr.
„We must decide on the return of conscription no later than the summer of 2027 and establish common criteria for this decision. At the summit in The Hague, Germany promised NATO an ambitious military capacity that, in addition to increasing the number of reservists by 250%, also requires a 50% increase in the number of military personnel. The threats of recent days in NATO airspace, as well as against Germany's military and civilian infrastructure, show that we cannot waste time in strengthening our defense capabilities. Therefore, we need binding annual targets for increasing the number of personnel, especially the active troops," Rövekamp told RND.
An agreement with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) on this issue, he explained, has not yet been reached. According to the head of the Bundestag's Defense Committee, however, "it is pointless to start the legislative process with such different points of view." For his part, CDU/CSU foreign policy expert Norbert Rötgen (CDU) noted that "the issues still remain open" and that the work will initially continue in the form of confidential discussions. "Everything else is counterproductive," the politician concluded.
On October 2, the newspaper „Bild“ reported that the CDU/CSU parliamentary group had blocked the discussion in the Bundestag of the bill by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) for a new model of military service. The first reading of the bill was originally scheduled for October 9, but the conservatives removed it from the agenda.
The German Defense Ministry aims to increase the size of the Bundeswehr to 260,000 soldiers and the reserve forces to 200,000. On August 27, the German government adopted Pistorius' bill for a new model of military service. It proposes the introduction of voluntary service similar to the Swedish model. In the Scandinavian country, all school leavers are subject to military service, but only a fraction of them end up serving in active service. The document also contains “implementable elements,” which include the reintroduction of medical examinations for conscripts and the mandatory completion of a declaration of readiness for service by men aged 18 to 25. The bill does not rule out a return to universal military service.
Compulsory military service in Germany was abolished in July 2011, after which a transition to a professional army began.