Germany plans to introduce a new model for voluntary military service this year, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, quoted by DPA, BTA reported.
"Once the legislative process is complete, we can start accepting and training the first conscripts," Pistorius told the agency. He said that around 5,000 new soldiers are expected to join the military this year.
The politician from the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) said that the main work on introducing the new model had been carried out in the past few months and that the implementation of the rules would begin quickly after the new federal government took office.
The SPD and Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) reached an agreement this week to form a coalition government. Pistorius is expected to retain his post as defense minister in the new cabinet.
"We believe that an attractive model for military service will attract enough volunteers," Pistorius said. "If at some point it turns out that this is not the case, then we will have to decide whether to introduce compulsory military service for young people," he added.
In 2011, Germany abolished compulsory military and civilian service, which had been introduced 55 years earlier. However, the law allowing conscription for men remains in force and can be activated in the event of an emergency, DPA recalls.
Pistorius said that the new model is planned to be implemented this year. He said the Social Democrats and conservatives had reached an agreement that the number of not only the regular army, which numbers 180,000 men and women, but also the reservists should be increased.
However, the minister warned that the Bundeswehr no longer has the capacity it had 30 years ago and is suffering from a shortage of beds, barracks, instructors and equipment.