{"id":829,"date":"2025-12-05T15:22:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=829"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:22:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:22:02","slug":"german-mps-rubberstamp-military-service-plan-amid-school-pupil-protests-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=829","title":{"rendered":"German MPs rubberstamp military service plan amid school pupil protests | Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The German parliament has rubberstamped a new model for military service that aims to boost its armed forces as thousands of school pupils demonstrated across the country against the plans.<\/p>\n

The change will include the obligatory screening of all 18-year-old men to gauge their suitability to serve in the military from 1 January, but does not include conscription<\/a>, as favoured by some conservative politicians.<\/p>\n

If the model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of conscription, the defence minister, Boris Pistorius, told the Bundestag.<\/p>\n

Pupils missed classes to take part in climate protest-style \u201cschool strike\u201d demonstrations against the legislation in 90 towns and cities, despite warnings from education authorities that striking could affect their end of year grades.<\/p>\n

Alicia, a 17-year-old taking part in a demonstration in Kreuzberg, Berlin, said: \u201cI\u2019m striking against conscription and in opposition to the rearmament that\u2019s taking place, not least as I don\u2019t think the government is doing enough to secure peace through diplomatic means.\u201d<\/p>\n

MPs addressed concerns that young people\u2019s futures were being put at risk amid pressure on anyone born from 2008 to join up.<\/p>\n

Siemtje M\u00f6ller, of the SPD, a junior partner in coalition with the chancellor Friedrich Merz\u2019s conservatives, pushed back against what she referred to as the \u201cpopulist\u201d message of the protest.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe are neither deciding today that you will be obliged to serve in the armed forces, nor that we will be drawing lots to send you to Ukraine as cannon fodder. That is pure populism, or simply nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Demonstrators take part in a rally against conscription in Cologne on Thursday.<\/span> Photograph: Ying Tang\/NurPhoto\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

M\u00f6ller expressed the sentiment building in recent weeks that a rise in interest in the German armed forces would ensure enough volunteers would be found to boost numbers to460,000, consisting of 260,000 active soldiers and 200,000 reservists.<\/p>\n

Germany currently has 182,000 active soldiers and just under 50,000 reservists.<\/p>\n

In 2011, under Angela Merkel\u2019s government, Germany suspended its military conscription programme, which had been in place from 1956, in order to modernise it for the post-cold war world, where it was thought the focus would be on foreign missions requiring the skills of a professional army rather than conscripts needed to fight a war.<\/p>\n

Pistorius called the law \u201ca critical step towards our ability to defend ourselves\u201d, adding: \u201cOur allies are looking to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law was passed by 323 votes to 272, with one abstention. Among those against it were the far-right populist AfD and the far-left Die Linke.<\/p>\n

Desiree Backer, of Die Linke, urged young people to stand up against the law, which she said was \u201canything but voluntary\u201d, as 18-year-olds would be obliged to fill out a questionnaire. She also pointed to evasive answers given by ministers when questioned over whether they would be prepared to see their own children conscripted.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung people have other plans than risking their lives for the rich,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The AfD\u2019s R\u00fcdiger Lucassen criticised as \u201csuperficial\u201d attempts to attract young people to military service by giving them substantial pay increases and offering them benefits such as financing driving licences and language classes.<\/p>\n

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