Bundeswehr
Freely falls on the soon -to -be conscription
Compulsory compulsory or voluntariness? Union and SPD meet this key question for the future of the Bundeswehr with different urgency. The Chancellor’s head now increases the pressure again.
Chancellor Department Thorsten Frei is coming to an early decision as to whether the aim of increasing the Bundeswehr via voluntariness or only by returning to compulsory military service can be reached. “We don’t have the time to wait until the Sankt Nimmerlein Day,” said the CDU politician in an interview with the German Press Agency. The black and red coalition must make a clear appointment “when we have to change our strategy so that we can achieve the goal that is recognized for necessary”.
According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the Bundeswehr needs 50,000 to 60,000 active soldiers to meet the threat from Russia. The troop currently has a little more than 180,000 soldiers. The target size today is 203,000 soldiers – but even that has not yet been achieved through voluntary recruitment.
Free: have “almost no time”
It is free to imagine that the 230,000 to 240,000 soldiers now sought by Pistorius can be achieved through a voluntary military service, as provided for in the coalition agreement. You first have to agree until the new target size should be achieved, said Frei. “And then you have to think: How much time can we take ourselves to achieve this goal on a voluntary basis? My personal assessment is that we actually have almost no time for it, because the threat situation is enormous.”
Frei contradicts SPD parliamentary group leader Miersch
The compulsory military service for men was suspended in 2011 after 55 years. In their coalition agreement, the Union and SPD agreed on a military service “which initially is based on voluntariness”. SPD parliamentary group leader Matthias Miersch interprets it in such a way that there will be no reintroduction of military service before the next federal election.
Frei told the dpa that this contradicts the agreements in the coalition negotiations and also did not cover the statements by Defense Minister Pistorius (SPD). If the desired way of voluntary nature does not lead to the goal, “then it only corresponds to common sense that you are looking for a different way”.
dpa
Source: Stern
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