The CDU / CSU’s defence policy spokesperson Florian Hahn, has said that Germany must reconsider its current military service model amid Europe’s “current threat situation”.

Germany mulls military service model update

Speaking to the tabloid newspaper Bild, Florian Hahn, the defence spokesperson for the incoming CDU / CSU-led government, has said that Germany’s “suspension of conscription no longer fits the current threat situation”.

Hahn’s comments come as tensions heat up between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US president Donald Trump, and shortly after German-chancellor-elect Friedrich Merz called for European military independence from the US.

"We cannot stand by and watch as the world around us becomes more unsafe,” Hahn told Bild, “The first conscripts will have to walk through the barracks gates in 2025”. 

Further details are murky, but Merz has said he supports reintroducing a compulsory year of military or community service for young people. "I am not committing myself to any numbers now, but we cannot manage with the current number, and we also need a much stronger reserve," the chancellor-elect told the AFP.

Following a win in the February 23 election, Merz's CDU / CSU alliance is currently in coalition discussions with the SPD.

What are Germany’s military service rules?

Former CDU chancellor Angela Merkel suspended Germany’s compulsory military service model in 2011. Merkel left the chancellorship in 2021 when the SPD, Greens and FDP formed the traffic-light coalition. 

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and increasing security concerns in Europe, the traffic light coalition’s defence minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) announced in June 2024 that Germany would adopt a new military service policy.

Under Pistorius’ policy, young men in Germany would be sent a questionnaire about their health and willingness to serve in the German army (Bundeswehr). The Bundeswehr would then select new recruits based on their answers. Women would also be sent the questionnaire but would not be obliged to fill it out.

The new policy was due to be voted on at the end of 2024, but when the coalition collapsed in November and Olaf Scholz made a final push to get already-agreed-upon changes through the Bundestag, Pistorius’ plan fell by the wayside. Since then, support for expanded military service has only increased.

Speaking to Stern this week, former Greens foreign minister Joschka Fischer said he was once in favour of abolishing military service. "That was a mistake we must reverse,” Fischer told the newspaper. "Compulsory military service must be reintroduced. For both sexes. Without this step, we will not make any progress in protecting Europe."

Thumb image credit: Rokas Tenys / Shutterstock.com