Overview

• The cabinet’s draft would start with voluntary service and compulsory registration and muster for young men, with conscription only considered later if troop needs persist.
• Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he supports reinstating conscription immediately and suggested the bill could be toughened during talks, with the first Bundestag debate expected next week.
• Cem Özdemir proposed a one-year universal service open to military or social roles and floated incentives such as a free driver’s license.
• Özdemir warned against imposing conscription without broad buy-in and pressed for a civilian security operations plan, saying Germany cannot rely on a permanent U.S. shield.
• Conscription was suspended in 2011 but remains in the Basic Law for men, while a universal duty that includes women would require a constitutional amendment.