Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) is accelerating the discussion about compulsory military service and is calling for significantly more money for the Bundeswehr.
In an interview with “Bild am Sonntag” he said: “A master plan for the introduction of compulsory military service is needed quickly. The Federal Minister of Defense must quickly present when and how many soldiers Germany needs and how modern conscription can be designed.” This also requires a financial concept. “The clear goal for the next budgets must be to reserve not just two percent of GDP (gross domestic product), but three percent for defense.”
The head of the Bundeswehr Association, André Wüstner, is also campaigning for a quick reintroduction of compulsory military service. “Due to the change in the security policy situation, no one who seriously deals with the threat situation can no longer doubt the ‘whether’. So it’s just a matter of ‘how,’ ” Wüstner told “Bild am Sonntag”. “For an army that now has to concentrate again on national and alliance defense, the ability to grow up through a kind of compulsory military service, which has been neglected in recent years, is more important than ever.” Wüstner pleaded not to waste any time: “It would be good if As a first step, we could carry out recording and sampling again as quickly as possible.”
According to a representative survey by the opinion research institute INSA for BamS, 46 percent of people in Germany are in favor of reintroducing compulsory military service, while only 33 percent are against it. There is even greater support for general compulsory service (social or military service). Here 56 percent are in favor, 26 percent against.