Germany returns to recruitment if the volunteer plan fails

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The country’s defense minister said that Germany will re -recruit its armed forces if a plan fails to use volunteers to provide enough recruits.

Boris Petsorius said he will start with a voluntary model to attract youth and support BundeswehrThe goal of increasing its reserve forces in response to Vladimir Putin’s full invasion of Ukraine.

But he said that Berlin will not be ashamed to return to complete recruitment if the armed forces have a reserve training capacity – and will include such a ruling on a draft law that will be submitted to Parliament after the summer vacation.

“My goal is that the law contains two brigades,” he said to the German ARD broadcaster, referring to a voluntary option and a mandatory option. He said that the latter should be activated “if the numbers are not enough.”

The reserve option would avoid a completely new legislative process if voluntary recruitment numbers decrease. He said, “We have no time for that.” “If we already have an existing mechanism, it will not be a problem.”

GermanyCounselor Friedrich Mirz said that he wants to have his country “the most powerful traditional army in Europe” and pledges a greater role in the continent’s defense.

Mirz canceled the strict government debt rules in Germany to allow unlimited borrowing of defensive spending after winning the parliament elections in February. It aims to reform the long -term armed forces in the country in response to fears of Russian aggression.

With the money is no longer a problem, the largest issue facing military planners is the lack of employees. Senior Defense officials say the armed forces should expand to include about 80,000 other professional soldiers over the next ten years to meet NATO’s obligations in Germany.

The country also needs to increase the number of active reserve soldiers who can be summoned in times of crisis, with a rise in the number from about 60,000 to 200,000 by the end of the contract.

Germany, where the youth were forced until 2011 to provide a military service or a civilian alternative, I lost contact With many former recruits who can serve as reserve soldiers due to data protection problems.

He told Pistorius ard that the situation was a “scandal” because “this means that it is in the event of an emergency, that is, if we were attacked, we could not call our reserve experts because we do not have their names or titles.”

He said that Germany is working to rebuild its reserves, starting with the demand of young people to submit 18 years to complete a survey about their willingness to do voluntary military training and then continue to commit by being part of the reserves. The scheme is expected to initially accept 5,000 people per year.

Supreme figures in the Christian Democrats criticized the plan. They argue in Germany, you need a mandatory recruitment immediately to meet the security challenges facing Europe.

But Pistorius said that the army has no yet barracks and workforce to train hundreds of thousands of young recruits every year.

Instead, he insisted on following a voluntary model inspired by a similar system in Sweden. He said that Germany will simultaneously build its training facilities, and will return to recruitment if there is a backup capacity.

Meanwhile, Pistorius said, Al -Bundzuher will seek to recruit more professional soldiers to increase the permanent army from about 183,000 people to about 260,000 by 2035 as part of NATO targets.

“We have to do this by improving gravity, wages and other things,” he said.