Overview
- The federal cabinet approved draft laws Wednesday, July 1, 2026, forwarding a Reservestärkungsgesetz and an Infrastrukturbeschleunigungsgesetz to the Bundestag after the summer break.
- The reserve bill ends the post‑conscription 'double voluntariness' so employers can no longer block routine exercises and sets age and service limits for compulsion, including duties up to age 45 after six months’ service and up to age 65 for those who served a year or more.
- The package links compulsion with employer protections by allowing deferment requests, expanding workplace‑protection rules, increasing reimbursements for income loss during service and proposing targeted subsidies for small and medium firms, including a reported €500 flat payment for longer absences.
- The infrastructure draft gives military projects priority in permitting, allows narrow exceptions in property and environmental law to speed barracks, depot and range work and shifts more planning powers to federal military authorities to cut delays.
- The moves aim to grow the Bundeswehr toward a 460,000‑person target by 2035 but have drawn business criticism for removing voluntariness while reservist groups and some politicians welcome the change and NATO allies read the step as a signal of German commitment.