Overview

• The cabinet is set to consider Defence Minister Boris Pistorius’s draft Wehrdienstgesetz on Wednesday as the government seeks to expand Bundeswehr personnel for NATO readiness.
• Starting next year, the Bundeswehr plans to send questionnaires to all young people, with responses required from men and optional for women to gauge health, qualifications and service interest.
• From 2028, all 18-year-old men would be called to compulsory medical screening (Musterung) regardless of any decision to volunteer.
• The proposal emphasizes voluntary enlistment with financial incentives but keeps a prepared legal path to reinstate conscription if recruitment targets are not met.
• Political pushback is intensifying, with BSW leader Sahra Wagenknecht urging resistance to what she calls a step toward conscription, while CDU’s Norbert Röttgen criticizes the lack of concrete numbers and timelines and signals plans to toughen the bill in parliament.