Why reintroducing mandatory conscription isn't that easy
03 March 2025
When leaving school several years ago, I was free to choose whatever path I wanted to take. While I could have valuable experiences working and travelling abroad, young people in Germany might have to follow a much stricter plan after school soon. With the Russian threat looming large and decreasing support from the US, Germany is now considering reintroducing mandatory conscription for young adults – a policy it abolished in 2011.
While it was never officially deleted from the constitution, it's highly complicated to get back to a strong military force, partially carried by young people. An often-used role model for quickly setting up an efficient next generation of military is Sweden, which reintroduced conscription in 2018. There, Swedish students must take mandatory screenings to test whether they meet the physical and mental criteria for military service.
Even with this approach, Germany lacks adequate infrastructure. To match Sweden's recruitment share of 10% of each school year – equivalent to 40,000 German males alone – Germany is missing barracks, military instructors, and guns. According to Germany's defence ministry, the country currently could not train more than 3,000 to 4,000 people at once per school year – a far cry from the additional 100,000 troops reports suggest Germany needs to field.
 | Jasper Bennink Despite growing support across Europe for a return to national conscription models, with several countries – such as Lithuania in 2015 and Latvia in 2024 – already reinstating mandatory military service, Germany's case shows how difficult it'll be to get there. Renewing the often outdated infrastructure is a financial burden, with Germany's costs to upgrade the military infrastructure alone, for instance, including barracks, estimated at around €50 billion. Czechia is in a similar situation: its voluntary service remains stagnant due to low funding, limited interest in service, and a recruitment system that, in its current state, does not have enough capacity for any significant change. President Petr Pavel has hinted that additional voluntary forms of military service will eventually be put in place, while some politicians propose two- to three-month voluntary or even compulsory training programmes. But the final form is still undecided. At the same time, Germany, Czechia, Belgium and other European countries have seen it become harder to persuade young people to pursue a career in the military. For years, it has been neither a realistic nor an attractive next step for people leaving school. Countries must, therefore, either make the conscription model work or create an environment where people want to serve out of their own free will. Both will be expensive and complex undertakings, but European countries cannot move forward without a strong military. Jakub Roubíček contributed to this article. |
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