Overview
- The government kept Defence Minister Boris Pistorius’s August draft unchanged for Thursday’s first reading after a planned SPD–Union press event announcing a lottery compromise was cancelled at the last minute.
- Pistorius rejected pre‑parliamentary changes and emphasized a voluntary‑first model with comprehensive muster of each male cohort to gauge readiness.
- CDU/CSU negotiators want a lottery to mandate muster and, if needed, service when volunteers fall short, a mechanism legal scholars say could face equality challenges in court.
- Committee leaders scheduled an expert hearing for 10 November to examine legality and design options, and the coalition still targets the law to take effect on 1 January 2026.
- The push aims to add roughly 80,000 soldiers toward a force of about 260,000 as NATO expectations increase, while youth representatives and opposition parties criticize the lottery idea and demand greater input from those affected.