Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany may not need compulsory military service as the Bundeswehr hit a 13-year high of 190,000 troops, but his CDU/CSU coalition partners demand it.
Pistorius, a Social Democrat, told the Funke media group on Saturday that the Bundeswehr, Germany's armed forces, currently has around 190,000 service members, the highest since 2013. He said the measures in the new military service modernization law were working. "If the course continues, we have no growth problems," he said. "Then there must also be no discussion about a conscription however designed." He cautioned that he cannot look into the future and that the recruitment curve could fall again in two or three years, requiring a response.
Bavarian Minister-President and CSU leader Markus Söder rejected this optimism, writing on X that large investments in equipment and infrastructure were not enough. "Germany is threatened like never before," he wrote. "If our democracy matters to us, we must stand up for it. Therefore it is clear: We need a real conscription again."
CDU politicians echoed the criticism. Deputy parliamentary group leader Norbert Röttgen told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger that "cautious optimism is ok, premature statements are misplaced," calling the current progress "the first five kilometers of a marathon." Defense committee chairman Thomas Röwekamp said that if voluntariness was not sufficient, "we must return to conscription." He added that the debate was needed "now" because the security situation left "no room" for personnel growth.
The clash comes as the military service modernization law, in force since January, relies on voluntariness while mandating mustering for young men and reintroducing military registration. Since this year, all young men and women born in 2008 or later receive a questionnaire asking about their motivation for military service; men must answer, women may. Nearly 500,000 such questionnaires have been sent to resume registration, not as a recruitment campaign. The governing coalition had agreed on a target corridor for Bundeswehr growth that is currently being met. The Defense Ministry must report every six months on whether plans are fulfilled; otherwise the Bundestag can decide on a needs-based conscription.
Pistorius also addressed recent youth demonstrations against conscription, saying he understood their concerns but that strong forces were needed to deter war. "If it says on the demonstrations, we don't want to go to the front and die in war, then I can only say: We want exactly the same," he said. He announced new efforts to recruit more women, noting that with over 25,000 female soldiers the Bundeswehr remains numerically a "men's club."
