Overview

• The first reading of Defence Minister Boris Pistorius’s Wehrdienstgesetz has been pushed back by one week from 9 October after floor leaders reset the Bundestag agenda.
• Chancellor Friedrich Merz and CSU leader Markus Söder doubt a voluntary model will meet needs, with Merz backing a general service year that would require a constitutional change.
• The CDU/CSU seek a built‑in mechanism to switch to compulsory call‑ups if targets are missed, which the SPD rejects as the draft sets no fixed trigger or activation date.
• Pistorius says recruitment is rising, projecting about 30% more military hires this year and planning 40,000 additional barracks places to expand training capacity.
• The Bundeswehr is short roughly 80,000 soldiers against a NATO benchmark of about 260,000 total personnel, intensifying pressure over the law’s design.