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4w ago

Germany Weighs Privacy Rule Changes to Resolve Bundeswehr’s One Million Reservist Gap

The Defence Ministry is reviewing privacy rules to restore contact with former servicemen to meet reserve recruitment targets.

Der Ukraine-Krieg habe gezeigt, dass die Bundeswehr deutlich mehr Soldaten und Reservisten brauche, um einen Krieg länger durchhalten zu können. Die Verbindung zu vielen Reservisten ist aber abgerissen. Im Foto üben Soldaten mit dem Schützenpanzer Marder während einer laufenden Gefechtsübung auf dem Truppenübungsplatz Bergen in der Lüneburger Heide.
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Vorsitzender des Reservistenverbandes: Patrick Sensburg
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Overview

  • Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to build the Bundeswehr into Europe’s strongest conventional army, backed by a new multibillion-euro fund.
  • Strict data-protection laws have severed the Bundeswehr’s ability to contact roughly one million potential reservists, including 93,000 veterans of Afghanistan missions.
  • Germany currently fields about 60,000 reservists but needs around 260,000 to ensure readiness for potential conflicts with Russia.
  • The Defence Ministry says it is assessing how to reconcile GDPR-level privacy safeguards with requirements for reservist mobilization.
  • Since 2021, all departing service members are automatically registered as reservists, but those who left after conscription ended in 2011 remain unreachable.