Both the governing parties agree on the need to recruit more soldiers, but agreement on how to do so, or who to recruit, is proving much harder to come byImage: Malin Wunderlich/dpa/picture alliance
The government’s impasse on reintroducing some form of military service briefly appeared to be solved on Tuesday, until the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and center-left Social Democrats (SPD) called off a press conference scheduled to present their new compromise at the last minute.
The story had been leaked out to German media including ARD, Spiegel and others, saying that top defense politicians from both parties had agreed on a plan for a lottery system similar to Denmark’s, in the event that too few people volunteered in a given year.
But the Berlin presentation of the plan was abruptly canceled on Tuesday evening, seemingly after the plans proved unacceptable to more junior SPD members of the Bundestag.
The SPD in particular has objected to the notion of mandatory national service.
Tip-toeing around the word ‘mandatory’
The plan put forward in August by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) would involve a mandatory questionnaire going to all male school leavers, asking about their availability and encouraging them to sign up voluntarily. Young women would also be sent the survey, but would be under no obligation to respond.
CDU members had been warning that too few people might volunteer, calling for a more codified system in the event of a shortfall.
Tuesday’s short-lived new agreement was for a lottery among men who declined to join, if one was needed to make up the difference. But then those chosen in the lottery would supposedly be encouraged to join of their own volition. Quite how that last part works, or whether honoring the lottery would be obligatory at all or subject to any penalty, was not made particularly clear by Tuesday’s reports.
For now, though, both ruling parties will have to return to boot camp and see if they can cobble another compromise together.
In a further sign of this issue’s ability to divide politicians in Germany, with its catastrophic 20th century military history, the opposition AfD on Tuesday also abandoned its plans to submit an alternative military service bill in parliament until further notice, conceding it could not reach an internal consensus.
Germany debates return to compulsory military service
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video