The Daily Populous Saturday December 6th, 2025 night edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by pheexio

Germany votes to bring in voluntary military service programme for 18-year-olds

10 hours ago Share Save Bethany Bell Berlin Share Save

Watch: 'We're protesting now before it's too late'

Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, has voted to introduce voluntary military service, in a move aimed at boosting national defences after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It marks a significant shift in Germany's approach to its military and follows Chancellor Friedrich Merz's push to create Europe's strongest conventional army. The change means that all 18-year-olds in Germany will be sent a questionnaire from January 2026 asking if they are interested and willing to join the armed forces. The form will be mandatory for men and voluntary for women. Students at schools across Germany have said they will join strikes in as many as 90 cities on Friday to protest against the move.

EPA Germany scrapped compulsory military service in 2011 but the size of its military fell significantly after the end of the Cold War

Many young Germans either oppose the new law or are sceptical. "We don't want to spend half a year of our lives locked up in barracks, being trained in drill and obedience and learning to kill," the organisers of the protests wrote in a statement posted on social media. "War offers no prospects for the future and destroys our livelihoods." In Hamburg alone, about 1,500 people were expected to join the protests, and school head teachers warned parents not to take their children out of school for the day.

Reuters A small protest took place outside the Bundestag as the vote took place, with protesters holding a banner saying "No to military service"

German MPs voted by 323 votes to 272 to back the change, making their country the latest European country to launch some form of revised military service. Last month, France said it was introducing 10 months of voluntary military training for 18- and 19-year-olds.

Ree_m0 on December 5th, 2025 at 18:19 UTC »

This is a stopgap measure. They're starting with the voluntary programme because going straight back to full mandatory service is hard to sell. They're already laying the groundwork to switch to compulsory later on if the voluntary program doesn't yield enough recruits - which it won't because the reputation (and probaly the reality) of the Bundeswehr is about as deep in the gutter as that of Deutsche Bahn. Also, most 18 year olds of today don't see why they're the ones who need to pay for the failures of our politicians over the last decade(s).

roarti on December 5th, 2025 at 16:07 UTC »

Note that there was a mandatory military service until 2011 which was officially just "paused".

mamounia78 on December 5th, 2025 at 14:29 UTC »

seems like Germany is trying to boost readiness without jumping back to full conscription. A voluntary path feels like a middle ground..gives options to young people without forcing anything on them.