Germany is seeking to boost military recruitment to deter a hostile Russia, but a proposed “draft lottery” has sparked a row in the ruling coalition and unsettled many young people.
The flashpoint issue of bringing back any form of military conscription has rattled the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the centre-left Social Democrats of Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.
Merz, citing dangerous tensions between Nato and Russia and doubts about future US security commitment to Europe, has pledged to build up the continent’s “strongest conventional army” and tasked Pistorius with attracting new troops.
So far, the country’s armed forces, known as the Bundeswehr, have banked on a volunteer drive, backed by a social media blitz to polish its image in a country whose dark history has left many citizens distrustful of all things military.
So Pistorius was not amused when the conservatives, several days ago, urged that the more coercive option of a possible “draft lottery” be included in legislation now taking shape in parliament.
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