Berlin, Mar. 2, (dpa/GNA) – The Ukraine crisis has brought more change to German defence and energy policy than many national governments achieve in a normal term in office.
Previously tied into to a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline to Russia, Europe’s biggest economy is now aiming to decouple itself from Russian fossil fuels and turning to liquefied natural gas from other parts of the world and renewables.
When it comes to defence, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said that Germany’s defence budget will from now go above 2% of GDP, a NATO target that the government had always paid lip service to and was indeed creeping towards, but wasn’t expected to reach anytime soon.
The Ukrainians’ fight against the might of the Russian army has also reignited what was a dormant debate over national conscription.
Politicians mainly from the right urged a fresh debate on the issue, arguing that it would help the German army meet the military challenge posed by countries such as Russia.
The leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU) in Hamburg, for one, said the service could be “carried out in the Bundeswehr, but also, for example, in aid organizations or in the areas of care and education,” he told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe.
Compulsory military service in Germany was suspended in 2011 after 55 years under the then defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, himself a conservative. This in practice meant the abolition of the system whereby school-leavers could choose whether to serve their time in the military or in civilian service.
Leading centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) – who are currently the largest party in the government coalition in Germany – have however poured cold water on the latest idea from the opposition.
“National conscription – we have discussed this for long enough,” SPD party leader Saskia Esken told German broadcaster RTL on Wednesday. It would neither improve the state of the Bundeswehr nor the current dispute with Russia, she argued.
Reintroducing it would also take considerable time, agreed senior SPD lawmaker Sönke Rix, citing inevitable legal hurdles.
The inspector general of the Bundeswehr also weighed in, coming out against national conscription.
“Conscription … is not necessary in the current situation,” Eberhard Zorn told the newspapers of the Funke Mediengruppe.
“For the fight in cyberspace, to name just one example, conscripts are entirely unsuitable,” Zorn explained. “We need well-trained, in some cases even highly specialized personnel to cover the entire spectrum of tasks.”
GNA