German soldiers use the squeeze method of nonverbal communication during an exercise at the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Feb. 13, 2025. Germany's Christian Democratic Union party is calling for the reinstatement of compulsory military service. (Carlos Marquez/U.S. Army)
STUTTGART, Germany — Compulsory military service should be reintroduced this year in Germany, a leading official of the party that won recent federal elections said this week amid growing questions about the reliability of U.S. defense commitments.
“The first conscripts will have to walk through the barracks gates in 2025,” Florian Hahn, a defense policy spokesman for the center-right Christian Democratic Union, told the German newspaper Bild on Tuesday.
Germany suspended military conscription in 2011, but the CDU and its Bavarian counterpart, the Christian Social Union, say the current security situation makes the status quo no longer tenable.
“We cannot stand by and watch as the world around us becomes more unsafe,” Hahn said.
Reinstatement of obligatory military service has also been advocated by CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who is expected to become Germany’s next chancellor.
Merz said Europe must prepare for the possibility that the United States can no longer be counted on to ensure the security of the Continent.
“My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA,” Merz said shortly after his party’s victory.
However, it’s unclear how the debate over mandatory military service will play out as Germany’s next coalition government takes shape.
The center-left Social Democratic Party also has sought to enlarge the German armed forces, but its call for a return of compulsory military service has been less clear-cut.
Meanwhile, Andre Wüstner, the chairman of the German Armed Forces Association, which represents volunteer reservists, said some form of a draft should begin immediately.
“Without some kind of new conscription, we will not be able to recruit and retain the personnel we need,” he said Tuesday on Welt-TV.
The push for a return to mandatory military service is the latest sign of Germany’s efforts to strengthen its defenses.
On Tuesday, the CDU and prospective partners in the next government said they will try to loosen budget deficit rules to allow for significantly higher defense spending.
