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Germany’s coalition partners were unable to agree on the proposed new form of military service and canceled a press conference on the matter at 11pm on Tuesday.
Negotiators from Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) had previously supported proposals to introduce a lottery system that would be adopted if not enough volunteers participated in a given year.
The proposed changes mirror the system used in Denmark and come as Germany seeks to strengthen its military in response to the security threat posed to Europe by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Berlin has announced that it will expand its military’s active-duty strength from 180,000 to 260,000 soldiers within the next few years.
According to reports, SPD politicians were unhappy with the idea of a lottery system, which led to its collapse on Tuesday.
Until Tuesday afternoon, it appeared the coalition partners had reached an agreement, with CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn saying “a good solution has been found.”
The sudden disagreement reveals the fragility of Merz’s coalition and shows how polarized the military service issue is within Germany.
It is currently unclear whether the military service bill will be debated in Congress on Thursday as scheduled.
anger within the coalition
After Tuesday’s controversy, CDU politician Norbert Röttgen told RND that he blamed SPD Defense Minister Pistorius.
“The SPD must now reposition itself,” Roettgen said, accusing Pistorius of acting “disruptively” and throwing “his own faction into turmoil.”
Meanwhile, Mr Pistorius did not hide his frustration as he left the SPD caucus meeting on Tuesday.
“It wasn’t my idea, it was the union’s (CDU) idea,” he told Süddeutsche Zeitung about the proposed lottery system.
In August, Pistorius announced plans to send a mandatory questionnaire to all male school dropouts, allowing them to volunteer for military service if they wish.
Under the initiative, young women will also be surveyed, but they will not be required to respond.
In response, the CDU expressed concern that not enough volunteers would register.
“I am in favor of immediate compulsory military service,” CDU Foreign Minister Johan Wadeplu told the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper in early October.