The difficulty of attracting soldiers to Germany’s growing defense has reignited debate over the reintroduction of conscription. The Swedish model, which regained the military in 2017, has stood out as particularly interesting.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius believes that the Swedish example is interesting, although it has its drawbacks. German law requires that everyone or no one be called up for mandatory military service. “We don’t need all of them. We find the Swedish model very attractive. We would also like to be able to recruit all of them, but only 10,” explains General Hans-Lothar Domröse.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused Germany to completely change and invest heavily in its defense. In six years, Germany will have more than 200,000 soldiers in service, approximately 30,000 more than today. Military service is voluntary and the German armed forces battle other employers for young people in short supply in the country.
“Our biggest challenge is demographic changes, that the active population is decreasing. It is the labor market,” says Commander Patrick Preuss, director of the defense recruiting center in Berlin.