Overview

• The draft Neuer Wehrdienst bill requires all 18- to 25-year-olds to complete a service readiness questionnaire, makes responses mandatory for men and voluntary for women, and reinstates medical exams from 2028 with conscription triggered if volunteer targets aren’t met
• Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans to present the proposal to the cabinet by late August as part of a broader strategy to meet NATO’s call for up to 260,000 active troops by 2030
• Grassroots surveys reveal 67 percent of Germans support doubling defense spending by 2032 yet 59 percent would refuse to bear arms themselves and just 35 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds back a mandatory draft
• The AfD remains divided on compulsory service, with a parliamentary motion expected in September as internal tensions persist between pro- and anti-conscription factions
• Bundeswehr recruits report that excessive bureaucracy, not equipment shortages, is paralyzing training operations even as enlistment reaches around 20,000 annually