Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the debate about reintroducing conscription has flared up in a number of countries. In Poland in particular, more than half of the citizens are in favor of it. In Germany, however, that would not work, explains the Inspector General of the German Armed Forces.
The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Eberhard Zorn, has spoken out against the reintroduction of conscription. The tasks of the troops have changed, said Zorn of the Bayern media group. Equipment and operation of the device have become more complex; the soldiers would need significantly longer to master this. “Furthermore, the Bundeswehr has neither the necessary training staff for conscripts nor the infrastructure “to enable a short-term reintroduction of conscription.”
At the same time, the Inspector General emphasized: “Germany was, is and will always be able to defend its own territory as well as that of the alliance.” The special fund of 100 billion euros is very important. It enables the Bundeswehr to tackle procurement projects in parallel that otherwise could only have been realized one after the other. The Bundeswehr also needs “solid, continuous financial resources that are based on NATO’s two percent target”.
With regard to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Zorn said: “Ukraine must not lose this war.” He emphasized: “The fact that a larger neighbor attacks the smaller one or imposes his will on him should not set a precedent.” The liberal democracies must stand up for one another.
Russia “does not stop at civil infrastructure and knowingly accepts the suffering of the Ukrainian population,” said Zorn. On the other hand, there are “bravely and cleverly” fighting Ukrainians who are using partisan tactics and modern Western war equipment to slow down the advance of the Russian troops. The Inspector General assumes that this approach will also be observed in the coming weeks.
According to a recent survey, more than half of the respondents in Germany’s neighboring country of Poland were in favor of the reintroduction of conscription in their country. In a representative survey by the opinion research institute CBOS, 54 percent of the more than 1,000 respondents were in favor of this, as the Polish news agency PAP reported. In addition, 78 percent of respondents spoke out in favor of military training for civilians.
