The German army is aging and its personnel are continuing to decline, warned today the chairwoman of the parliamentary committee on armed forces Eva Hoegel, quoted by DPA, writes BTA.
She made these conclusions against the backdrop of a proposal to revise borrowing rules in order to significantly increase defense spending.
In an annual report published today, Hoegel said that despite a recruitment drive that began after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the number of servicemen in the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) had decreased to 181,200 in 2024. from 181,540 a year earlier, and the average age has risen from 32 to 34.
This puts the Bundeswehr further away from its goal of increasing its personnel to more than 200,000 - a goal that was postponed two years ago from 2025 to 2031, DPA noted.
The increased spending allowed Germany to reach NATO's target of spending 2 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense for the first time this year, but according to the report, about 82 percent of the special defense fund of 100 billion euros agreed in 2022. to modernize Germany's aging military has already been spent.
Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and Chancellor Olaf Stolz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) - in coalition talks after last month's snap elections - are seeking to overhaul borrowing rules to modernize the military and boost the country's economic growth. But they are facing resistance in the Bundestag (German parliament), where a two-thirds majority is needed to change the constitution, which they do not have.
According to Hoegel, who advocates for the rights of servicemen and exercises parliamentary oversight, the Bundeswehr's equipment, weapons and infrastructure also need to be modernized. "Some of the barracks and properties are still in a disastrous state," the report said.
The report also called for the country's registration system for possible military service to be quickly restored. Germany ended compulsory military service for men in 2011, although the requirement remains enshrined in the country's constitution. At the time, the German government also suspended registration and closed the 52 regional military offices that had been administering the country's conscription system.
"There is an urgent need to restore the registration system enshrined in the Military Service Act," Hoegel said in the report. "A state that can respond to a possible attack with a well-trained and equipped army is a deterrent for potential aggressors," she added. "The basis for this is the data on who can be called up in cases of tension and need for protection, how suitable people are and what qualifications they have", states the report by the chairwoman of the parliamentary committee on armed forces.
However, as a result of the abolition of this system under former Chancellor Angela Merkel, this type of data is no longer available to the Bundeswehr in the event of a conflict, the report adds. "As a result, there is no longer a complete picture of the situation regarding the relevant age groups subject to compulsory military service, as well as their willingness and ability to perform military service", states the text.