The head of the Ministry of Defense of Germany, Boris Pistorius, called for the restoration of mandatory military conscription in the country.
It should be noted that compulsory military conscription was stopped in Germany in 2011, which causes an acute shortage of personnel in the Bundeswehr.
Pistorius proposes to introduce a draft system in Germany, similar to the Swedish one. According to the Swedish model, all young men and women are considered conscripts from 2017. Although they are screened by a military commission for readiness for service, only a limited number of people are called up.
Currently in Germany, military service is completely open to volunteers, and women have always been exempt from conscription under the 1949 Basic Law. The introduction of the Swedish model involves a change in these principles.
Military experts in Germany are positive about the initiative, saying it is the only way to attract more people to the Bundeswehr and overcome the manpower crisis. In the liberal party of the Free Democratic Party (VDP), which is part of the ruling coalition, such a step has already been called a "huge interference in civil liberties."
