Overview
- Johannes Winkel, who leads the CDU’s youth wing, called for compulsory service to restart on January 1, 2027, arguing questionnaires will not fix the troop shortfall.
- Since January 1, 2026, a new law sends mandatory questionnaires to 18-year-old men to build a voluntary intake of up to 20,000 recruits a year, with fines for no reply and a Bundestag option to order a draft if targets slip.
- Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said no permission is needed for foreign stays longer than three months and he will issue an order this week that suspends the clause in peacetime.
- CDU defense chair Thomas Röwekamp said the ministry still lacks a concrete growth plan to reach 260,000 active troops and noted no detailed proposals are slated for the April 15 defense committee meeting.
- Reinstating a draft would take time because the Bundeswehr dismantled intake and training systems after conscription was suspended in 2011.