Two senior German ministers have declared their opposition to plans for a limited revival of conscription, which they argue would impose a “deep intrusion into the freedom” of those called up.
Last month Boris Pistorius, the defence minister, set out a proposal under which all men aged 18 would be compelled to register their names and about 5,000 of them would be drafted each year.
The idea, modelled on a similar scheme in Sweden, is primarily intended to ease the severe recruitment shortfall in the armed forces, which are more than 20,000 personnel below their target strength. Germany might soon be obliged by Nato to increase the size of its forces by at least another 70,000 soldiers.
The conscription-lite proposal would initially cost about €1.4 billion a year but has yet to be approved by the rest of the federal government.
It now appears likely to be blocked, according to a letter seen by The Times. The finance minister, Christian Lindner, and the justice minister, Marco Buschmann, wrote to Pistorius warning that it would be a “long and extremely cost-intensive process” and ultimately reduce military capabilities instead of strengthening them.
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Lindner and Buschmann acknowledged that the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine had exposed the deficiencies of the German armed forces after “years of neglect”.
“Many people are rightly asking how Germany can fulfil its security responsibilities … and in extremis be capable of deploying troops,” they wrote.
However, they argue that Pistorius’s plan could “lead to significant economic losses” by reducing the already scarce workforce and would “inevitably raise questions of justice in defence terms” because only a small portion of each cohort of young men would be called up.
“For those affected, it is a deep intrusion into their freedom and their personal life plans,” the ministers said.
The letter has exacerbated defence ministry officials’ frustration at what they see as a lack of support from other parts of the government for their endeavours to make the armed forces “fit for war”, especially since Germany is under pressure to reassure its allies at the Nato summit in Washington this week.
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German defence sources are particularly aggrieved by Lindner, a major in the air force reserves, who has resisted Pistorius’s appeals for extra funding.
This week Lindner oversaw a deal under which the regular defence budget would barely keep pace with inflation.
