Amid Germany’s push for “rearmament,” there is growing debate about reinstating mandatory military service, which was abolished in 2011. Some argue that both men and women should bear the same responsibility for compulsory service.
On June 9 (local time), the weekly magazine Stern reported that Thomas Röwekamp, chairman of the Bundestag Defense Committee and a CDU politician, emphasized: “Of the approximately 700,000 school leavers, less than 10% currently opt for voluntary service and only 10,000 for service in the Bundeswehr,” “Anyone who wants to live their life in freedom and prosperity cannot rely solely on the commitment of others.”
He therefore called for compulsory service for both men and women, either in the military or alternatively in social or civil sectors. Compulsory service would involve a set period of work in public institutions, such as fire stations, either in the military or in social or civil sectors.
After Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to “make the German Army the most powerful conventional army in Europe,” the proposal for reintroducing mandatory military service has emerged mainly from the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
