In December, the Bundestag must approve the new rules for military service: from 2026, all 18-year-olds in Germany will have to fill out a questionnaire and then undergo a medical examination to determine their fitness. If there are not enough volunteers, the army plans to recruit by lot. But this issue has not been finally resolved.
As the newspaper "Die Welt" writes, in May 2022, 340,859 male citizens born in 2008 lived in Germany. And 56,693 of them had a citizenship other than German - 14,463 had a Turkish passport, 4,141 - Polish, 3,857 - Italian, 3,691 - Russian, 1,888 - Serbian, 1,640 - Moroccan, 1,620 - Kazakh.
Will there be a problem with loyalty?
According to "Die Welt", when filling out the survey, the presence of a second citizenship will also have to be noted. The Ministry of Defense notes that "this is not a manifestation of distrust" - this information is necessary for the Bundeswehr, as it concerns obligations to Germany.
Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, potential German conscripts with Russian citizenship, for example, may face problems related to loyalty and access to classified information, writes "Die Welt". A representative of the Ministry of Defense told the publication that all those who want to serve voluntarily will "be tested for loyalty to the Constitution".
Lawyer Ferdinand Weber believes that after the medical examination, young people with dual citizenship may simply not be allowed to serve due to the emerging risks.
Germany wants to have 260,000 soldiers
The draft law on "modernization of military service" was adopted by the ruling coalition of conservatives and social democrats at the end of August. For now, it is not about returning to the universal military service that was abolished in 2011, but about attracting volunteers to the army.
In the coming years, the number of servicemen in the Bundeswehr should increase from 180,000 to 260,000. The reason is Russia's war against Ukraine and the threat of a Russian attack on NATO. "For the foreseeable future, Russia remains the greatest threat to security in Europe," the text of the law says.
Author: Ekaterina Venkina