German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is ready to consider the idea of recruiting persons without German citizenship for military service. The main reason is the acute shortage of soldiers and junior officers in the ranks of the Bundeswehr. The Rhenische Post newspaper reported this the day before, on January 21.
“We would not be the first armed forces in Europe to do this,” the publication quoted the head of the military department. “There are people in the country who live in Germany in the second or third generation, but do not yet have German citizenship.”
It is indicated that such an initiative is not rejected by both the Free Democratic Party (FDP), which is in the ruling coalition, and the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, which is currently in opposition.
“In the search for suitable young people ready to serve in the ranks of the Bundeswehr, we must in principle be prepared to think on a much more European scale,” said the head of the Bundestag defense committee Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann. “Related to this issue is the idea that soldiers without a German passport can quickly obtain one through service in the Bundeswehr.”
Expert on defense polls for the CDU/CSU faction in the Bundestag Johann Wadeful in turn, considers such an idea “correct in principle.”
“However, what is important is how it will be implemented,” he emphasizes. — Will this opportunity be provided only to citizens of EU and NATO countries or to others too? Is fluency in German necessary for this?”
At the same time, Wadeful criticized the German Defense Minister for the lack of specifics:
“Boris Pistorius once again outlined an idea in an interview without specifying it. However, he is a responsible minister, not a walking fair of ideas or just a source of keywords, which means he needs to be more specific.”
The German Ministry of Defense is currently checking whether it is possible to achieve the goal set before Pistorius took office as Minister of Defense (appointed head of the military department in January 2023), and increase the number of the country’s armed forces to 203,000 people. Currently, 181,600 soldiers and officers serve in the Bundeswehr. In addition, there are approximately 81,600 civil servants employed there.
Against this background, Germany is discussing the possibility of returning to universal conscription, Deutsche Welle notes this Monday*.
As reported EADaily, last week the Bundestag approved a law on simplified granting of German citizenship. Among other things, foreigners no longer have to renounce their first citizenship in order to obtain a German passport.
*An organization performing the functions of a foreign agent
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2024-01-22 09:05:00
