On December 26, Thomas Rowekamp - head of the German National Defense Committee - made important predictions about the future of the country's army in Die Welt.
Mr. Rowekamp said that Germany will inevitably return to the mandatory military service regime. According to him, the current measures to attract volunteers are not attractive enough to fill the vacant shelters.
Statistics show a worrying reality about the serious shortage of human resources in the armed forces. Every year, the German army has to witness about 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers leaving the army for various reasons.
Keeping soldiers and requiring troops is considered the only way out to reverse the situation. Mr. Rowekamp predicted that the decision to restore military service will be made within this legislative term, after re-evaluation in 2027.
In the immediate future, the new law on the military model proposed by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will take effect from January 1. This regulation requires men to re-register for service and undergo health check-ups.
All male students born from January 1, 2008 onwards will start being called up for recruitment from July 1, 2027. These young people will have to fill out the mandatory questionnaire about physical and mental readiness to join the army.
However, the most notable detail is the handling plan when the number of volunteers does not meet the target. German authorities are leaving open the possibility of re-activating the forced conscription regime if the number of troops is still lacking.
In that case, a special selection mechanism may be applied. Young people of active age may be selected through a lucky draw or other random screening mechanism.
If this draw process is applied, it will require a separate approval decision from the German Parliament. This is considered a drastic step towards achieving the goal of increasing the number of troops from 184,000 to 260,000 people by 2035.
For women, the new regulation still maintains the completely voluntary mechanism. The current German constitution does not allow mandatory military service for women, so they are not bound by these new regulations.
