Overview
- The defence minister reaffirmed that selection for service should be based on aptitude and motivation, calling a lottery arbitrary, and said entire year cohorts will be mustered from mid‑2027 to establish readiness for local defence roles.
- His draft law would first contact all 18‑year‑olds to seek volunteers, require men to return a questionnaire that forms part of the muster, and allow compulsory service only if numbers fall short after government and Bundestag approval.
- After a joint proposal by some Union and SPD politicians to use a lottery faltered, negotiators will reconvene next week with expert testimony scheduled from November 10.
- The plan is framed to meet force goals of roughly 460,000 personnel by 2035, up from about 182,000 active soldiers and 100,000 reservists today.
- Rhineland‑Palatinate Interior Minister Michael Ebling urged an explicit service duty applying to men and women and noted logistical hurdles such as accommodation and muster infrastructure, while polling indicates most people view a lottery as unfair.