Germany should return to conscription for men from 2025, the country’s armed forces commissioner said on Tuesday (March 12th), as the defense ministry works on a new model inspired by the Nordic countries.

Germany abolished conscription for male citizens in 2011. But now the government is struggling to bolster Germany’s defense capabilities due to the threat from Russia, and reinstating it is back in the spotlight.

The parliamentary commissioner for the Armed Forces expressed hope that a new form of conscription could be implemented in the next term to combat staff shortages in the Bundeswehr.

“I welcome the fact that the conscription debate is gaining momentum,” Eva Högl (SPD, S&D) told reporters on Tuesday (March 12th) as she presented her annual report on the state of the armed forces.

“If we had something like a rough idea by the end of this term that could be implemented in the next one [η οποία αρχίζει το 2025]I would be very pleased,” she added.

Her comments came as the annual report highlighted the slow pace of Germany’s military development after years of underfunding its armed forces.

The size of the Bundeswehr has shrunk compared to the previous year and “even in the second year of the Zeitenwende [της προσπάθειας της Γερμανίας να ανασυγκροτήσει τις ένοπλες δυνάμεις της]substantial improvements in personnel, equipment and infrastructure are still a long way off,” the report states.

Högl noted that the conscription debate is “extremely urgent” and added that the armed forces could also be opened to EU citizens.

Plan by April 1st

The first steps towards conscription have been launched, with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD, S&D) instructing his ministry to “present options for a German conscription model by April 1, which will be scalable and able to contributes to the resilience of the nation as a whole, even in the short term, in alignment with the threat,” Spiegel reported last week.

However, Högl and Pistorius see Germany’s previous model of compulsory military service for male school leavers as outdated.

Pistorius took inspiration from the Scandinavian model, declaring his “weakness” to the Swedish model on a trip to Scandinavia last week.

The Swedish armed forces have developed a significant reserve pool since conscription was reinstated in 2017.

Based on a questionnaire about their skills and interests, about a quarter of 18-year-old Swedes are called to annual military exams. A smaller percentage are then offered basic military training.

However, with the Greens and the FDP, Pistorius’ (SPD) coalition partners, cautious, significant progress on this issue in the current term is doubtful.

The Greens are in principle in favor of drawing up a plan, but see mandatory conscription as “the wrong way to go”, Sara Nanni, the party’s chief defense MP, told RND.

Germany’s armed forces need experts, not novices, which would make conscription too costly for its benefits, argued the FDP’s Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP, Renew), chair of the parliament’s defense committee.