Germany considers lottery-based conscription - Spiegel

The German government coalition is discussing the possibility of introducing a lottery system for military service if the number of volunteers is insufficient. Spiegel reported this on October 14.

It is a compromise between the CDU/CSU and SPD on a new model of military service proposed by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. At the first stage, the service will remain voluntary: all 18-year-olds will receive questionnaires with questions about their health, education, physical fitness, and attitude toward the army. Participation is mandatory for men, and voluntary for women and people of the third gender.

If there are not enough volunteers, a lottery will be used to determine who will be drafted. If this mechanism does not provide the army with the required number of soldiers, it is planned to restore universal military service, which was abolished in Germany in 2011. Men who are found fit will serve until the army is full, and those who refuse for religious or political reasons will do alternative service.

The plan also provides for the return of compulsory conscription in the event of a state of defense or tension declared by the Bundestag. According to the compromise, the Minister of Defense is to determine the Bundeswehr's manpower needs by 2035. By the 2030s, it is planned to increase the number of military personnel from the current 183,000 to 260,000 and to attract 200,000 reservists.

Despite the readiness to announce the agreement on October 14, the planned press conference was canceled due to criticism in the SPD. According to Spiegel, Boris Pistorius was dissatisfied with the significant differences between the agreed version of the document and its initial draft.

The idea of a lottery prize caused a wave of criticism in the opposition. Representatives of the Greens and the Left called it ill-conceived and compared it to the Hunger Games. The leader of the Alternative for Germany party, Alice Weidel, also strongly condemned the plan.

At the same time, CSU member Alexander Hoffmann emphasized that such a system is fair, recalling that a similar mechanism already operates in Denmark.

As a reminder, the new head of the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Martin Jaeger, said that the aggressor country russia intends to "test the strength" of the European Union's borders.