German party leader calls for compulsory military service

The head of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union, Markus Soder, has criticized Berlin’s plan to only use volunteers to expand the armed forces

Germany should reintroduce compulsory military service in order to increase the size of its armed forces, Markus Soder, the leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), has said.

Berlin has sparked nationwide protests after introducing a voluntary service model, effective from January 1. Critics warn it could pave the way for restoring conscription, which was suspended in 2011 under then Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“For us it’s clear: if the Bundeswehr is to become Europe’s largest army, military service is unavoidable,” Soder told Bild in an interview on Sunday.

“With volunteers alone we won’t achieve the necessary security our country needs,” the leader of the SCU, which is part of Chancellor Freidrich Merz’s ruling coaliton, said, insisting that compulsory military service “needs to come as soon as possible.”

Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Germany has ramped up recruitment, aiming to grow the Bundeswehr from about 186,000 troops to 260,000, plus 200,000 reservists by the mid-2030s, citing an alleged “Russian threat.”

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed claims that Moscow harbors aggressive intentions against NATO states as “nonsense.” Russia’s Foreign Ministry has warned that Berlin’s continued military buildup could lead to another tragedy on a global scale similar to the Second World War.

Earlier this month, the head of the European Defense Agency (EDA), Andre Denk, suggested that compulsory military service could be reinstated in the EU. He also said that his home country of Germany would likely go down this path eventually.

Croatia, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Poland, and the UK have all either reintroduced conscription, increased intake, or raised age limits for military service and reservists.

The Kremlin has consistently slammed the West’s “reckless militarization” and cited NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders as one of the causes of the Ukraine conflict.