Joschka Fischer Image: AFP
Former Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (Greens) has spoken out in favor of reintroducing compulsory military service. “I think in the long term we will not be able to avoid reintroducing them in one form or another,” Fischer told “Zeit” according to the advance report on Wednesday.
Former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has spoken out in favor of reintroducing compulsory military service. “I think that in the long term we will not be able to avoid reintroducing it in one form or another,” the Green politician told the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” according to the advance report on Wednesday. “Our big problem is that we have little connection to this new reality.” Fischer admitted that he used to be one of the supporters of abolishing conscription. “Today I have to realize: That was a mistake.”
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is currently traveling through Scandinavia to find out about, among other things, the Swedish model of compulsory military service. This stipulates that all young women and men of a year are mustered, but only a selected number actually do basic military service. Pistorius said before his visit to Scandinavia that he had a “soft spot” for this solution. “I’ve never made a secret of it.”
Pistorius does not believe that compulsory military service can be implemented quickly. “The probability is rather low, given the parliamentary procedures,” the minister told the broadcasters RTL and ntv on Wednesday. Changing the law “isn’t something you rush into,” said Pistorius. “I wish we could come to an agreement.”
The chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann from the coalition partner FDP, rejects the reintroduction of compulsory military service. “We no longer have trainers, we no longer have barracks. We don’t have the material to train half a million young men and women,” Strack-Zimmermann told the broadcaster “Welt” on Tuesday. Compulsory military service “doesn’t solve any of the problems we are currently facing, especially in the short or medium term,” she told the editorial network Germany (Wednesday editions).
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