Overview
- FDP defence figure Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann urges compulsory screening for women, rejects the planned questionnaire as unnecessary, and proposes conducting musterung directly at schools and training centers.
- The coalition’s model keeps service voluntary, sends questionnaires to roughly 700,000 18-year-olds from early 2026, and schedules mandatory mustering of men beginning with the 2008 cohort from 2027.
- A YouGov poll of 2,387 respondents shows 62% support for mustering entire male year-groups, while 53% view a potential demand-based draft as acceptable.
- The draft law allows a Bundestag-activated Bedarfswehrpflicht if volunteer targets are missed, with a possible lottery to select those required to serve.
- The Defence Ministry says musterung will follow current recruitment checks with blood and urine tests and a simple fitness assessment lasting about six hours, as the Linke plans a guide on avoiding service and some students voice support for a universal social year and opposition to a lottery.