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German defence minister Boris Pistorius has denied “torpedoing” plans for a new form of military service after he unexpectedly scuppered a compromise agreed between his government’s ruling parties.
Pistorius made an eleventh-hour intervention to reject a deal agreed between Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and his centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in parliament.
The move drew anger and dismay from senior figures in both parties and threatened to tip Merz’s ruling coalition into a new crisis. It also cast doubt on the plans of the EU’s largest nation to boost the size of its armed forces as Nato seeks to deter Russian aggression.
Norbert Röttgen, the CDU’s deputy leader in parliament, reacted angrily after Pistorius objected to the deal thrashed out and announced by senior members of parliament from the ruling parties on Tuesday.
Both groups had agreed on adding a “lottery” element that would call up young men to serve in the military if not enough people signed up for Pistorius’s proposed voluntary scheme.
But SPD and CDU officials were forced to cancel a press conference unveiling the details of the concept after it was due to begin.
“I cannot understand how a defence minister can torpedo a legislative process and behave so destructively,” Röttgen said. He also accused the defence minister of “plunging his own parliamentary group into chaos”.
Pistorius rejected those accusations. “I’m not torpedoing, and I’m not destructive,” the defence minister told the Tagesspiegel newspaper on Tuesday night.
He added that he simply had “difficulties” with the fact that two key parts of the bill were being changed before a planned debate in the Bundestag on Thursday.
Speaking on Wednesday, Pistorius sought to play down the row. He said that the aim was still to go ahead with the parliamentary process as planned, allowing the law to come into force at the start of 2026.
But it was unclear whether or not the legislation would be approved by the ruling parties, given that there are also strong objections from some in the CDU to Pistorius’s proposed model.
The nation’s top general, Carsten Breuer, warned this week that Germany needed to avoid a lengthy debate and instead “move quickly” so that implementation could begin as soon as possible.
Germany suspended conscription in 2011. But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered a renewed debate about a return to some form of military service as the country embarks on a large-scale rearmament.
The EU’s most populous nation needs to boost its number of soldiers from about 180,000 to 260,000 by 2035 in order to meet Nato targets. It is also seeking to expand the number of reservists who can be called up in a crisis from 60,000 to 200,000.
Pistorius put forward a voluntary concept for military service, designed to appease opponents of conscription within his own party by avoiding a return to the draft.
He argued attractive pay and other benefits would ensure sufficient numbers of young people would sign up.
Cabinet approved the model in August. But senior CDU politicians — including foreign minister Johann Wadephul — warned it was insufficient to meet the scale of the threat facing Europe in the form of Russian aggression.
They were alarmed by the lack of concrete targets for Pistorius’s scheme and the absence of a mechanism for triggering a compulsory return to conscription.
A compromise emerged this week, including a lottery system to call up young men for compulsory military service if a voluntary system failed to garner enough recruits. But some within the SPD questioned the potential legality of such a system.
Pistorius himself was dismayed by some elements of the CDU-SPD plan, which he was not involved in, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
They included the decision to do away with a mandatory questionnaire for all men turning 18 — a move that the defence minister warned would prevent the armed forces from knowing who was available to serve in a crisis. He also feared that the introduction of a complex lottery element would waste time as well as being seen as unfair by the public.
“The lottery system is frowned upon in German society, particularly when it comes to matters of life and death,” said one SPD insider. He said that there were questions of whether it was constitutional to pick people at random in this way, adding: “The minister had warned SPD and CDU negotiators ahead of time but they insisted.”
The last-minute dispute underlines how Merz’s government relies on a razor-thin majority in parliament.
In July the coalition shelved a vote on the appointment of three supreme court justices, after MPs from Merz’s CDU and Christian Social Union sister party dissented.
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