Friedrich Merz does not exclude military service for women either

Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) does not rule out compulsory military service for women in the long term. If the new military service model based on voluntariness is not enough, “then there will have to be a mechanism to return to conscription,” said Merz on Friday, the French broadcaster TF1. This is not easy. For example, the constitution does not allow women to be used for military service. “We would have to do that,” emphasized the Chancellor.

“There are still a few hurdles ahead of us, but we start,” he added. It was “a mistake from today’s perspective” to suspend conscription in 2011.

Merz justified the expansion of the voluntary military service with the Russian threat. Russian President Vladimir Putin was not only targeting Ukraine. “He wants to restore the old Soviet Union. And that includes part of my country,” said Merz.

Putin is not primarily concerned with territorial demands. “It’s about the destabilization of our democracy and we have to defend ourselves against it,” said Merz. Putin feels “threatened by the power of freedom and the power of democracy”. That’s why he doesn’t want to have them nearby. “But it is precisely this democracy that we have to defend,” said the Chancellor.

Merz was skeptical that the dialogue with Putin could soon be resumed. “We will have to do with an aggressive, Russian, authoritarian regime that has no interest in coming back to a regular order,” he said.

With a view to the strategic dialogue about nuclear deterrence, Merz emphasized the transatlantic bond in Germany. He does not want to change anything on the United States’ nuclear protective shield with corresponding weapon systems on German soil, he said. But he wanted to accept the French government’s offer of discussion, talk about nuclear participation. “I don’t want to lead us into new additional dependencies,” he emphasized.

The Federal Cabinet had approved a draft law on Wednesday, which is to grow the Bundeswehr by several ten thousand soldiers. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD )’s model is largely based on voluntariness, and a reinstatement of conscription is not intended for the time being. A later return to military service is possible if the growth goals are missed.

There are currently a good 182,000 soldiers in the Bundeswehr, the goal is now at least 260,000. Especially with CDU/CSU, there are doubts as to whether this can be achieved with the volunteer model.