Government formation: Pistorius: steps for new military service possible immediately

The executive Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius expects pace to introduce a new military service model. “We have continued to work on the corresponding foundations in the past few months, so that the next steps can follow immediately after the next government was formed,” said the SPD politician of the German Press Agency in Berlin.

Pistorius, who is considered a set for a further term after the coalition negotiations of his party with the Union, said that the resumption of military recording and weir monitoring were the first planned steps. “As soon as the legislative procedure has been completed, we can record and train the first military service providers,” he said.

Voluntariness applies – as long as enough soldiers are found

Union and SPD want to introduce a new and initially based military service model. So it says in the coalition agreement. “We assume that we will win enough volunteers with an attractive military service. If one day this is not the case, it will be decided to convene young men mandatory,” said Pistorius.

The compulsory military service was suspended in Germany in July 2011 after 55 years. This was equivalent to the abolition of military and community service, because all the necessary structures were also dissolved, although conscription for men revives when the event of tension and defense occurs.

Pistorius: In legislation, “lost half a year”

Pistorius said the goal was to start the new military service this year. “We want to quickly put military service on the track,” he said. “We lost half a year by preferring the Bundestag election to bring the law through parliament. We continued to work on the project internally.”

SPD and Union agree that it had to ensure a growth of the Bundeswehr. “This means not only the standing armed forces, that is, the approximately 180th 000 men and women, but also the reserve,” said Pistorius.

However, there are no longer the same capacities as 30 years ago. Beds, barracks, trainers and material are missing. “We will probably have around 5,000 military service providers in the first year,” said Pistorius.

The SPD politician made it clear that he sees a good basis for the Bundeswehr in the coalition agreement. The necessary scope will be opened. However, success will have to be shown in government practice.

Get faster with procurement and infrastructure

He announced that talks with the Bundestag should be held about the future parliamentary participation in armor projects. With so-called “25 million templates”, the budget committee is particularly involved from this financial threshold.

Pistorius pleads for an increase in the threshold. He said: “I have an interest in the fact that we come to a solution with the parliament mutually, but that has to be discussed in peace.”

Despite some progress, the military must also become even faster when building projects. Infrastructure is a crucial prerequisite for the Bundeswehr’s central skills: growing to a larger number of soldiers or accommodating new weapons.

Pistorius: Need right of way for national security

In the coalition agreement, the Union and the SPD would have agreed to simplify the approval and procurement law and many time-consuming requirements for the Bundeswehr.

“It is also about prioritizing military construction projects,” said Pistorius. “We need right -wing rules for questions of national security and defense ability that allow us to build faster and more easily.”

It is “the common goal of all European Allies that we have to rely more on our own armaments production and development,” said Pistorius. This strengthens your own defense ability and its own business location.

Don’t always look for Washington

“A complete independence from the USA will not be imaginable or desired in the next ten years. We stick to NATO and the transatlantic alliance,” he said. Germany will play an important role in Europe as the largest NATO partner.

“It doesn’t help us to just look at Washington. We would have done well to show more independence before,” he said. And: “We have a decade of probation: we succeed in ensuring credible deterrence and defense in the coming years or not.”

Military shielding service receives extended powers

Pistorius welcomed the agreement with the Union to strengthen the military shielding service (MAD) responsible for securing the Bundeswehr and espionage defense and to modernize the MAD law. At the latest with the list of the Lithuania brigade and the permanent stationing of German soldiers at the NATO external border, the security requirements changed. Pistorius said: “It is about expanded and new powers in regions in which we have not yet been.”