The CDU/CSU and SPD apparently still disagree on the military service law. And a compromise that was almost reached lacks majority support: The coalition parties abruptly canceled the presentation of a possible agreement on Tuesday evening.
The CDU/CSU and SPD have canceled a presentation of their military service plans at short notice. According to WELT, the reason is a massive conflict within the SPD over an agreement reached by the leaders of the coalition factions only on Tuesday.
On Tuesday afternoon, deputy leaders of the Bundestag parliamentary groups and the relevant politicians were supposed to explain to journalists in Berlin what changes were still to be made to the proposed legislation by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). However, there is apparently a dispute within the coalition over whether the planned new military service should rely exclusively on voluntary recruitment of soldiers.
Pistorius's draft, launched by the Federal Cabinet in August, stipulates that starting in 2026, 18-year-old men will be required to complete a questionnaire stating whether they are willing to serve in the Bundeswehr. Women will also be contacted, but are not required to respond. Conscription will be entirely voluntary. Within the CDU/CSU, there are serious doubts that this will be enough to recruit enough personnel for the Bundeswehr.
Representatives of the parliamentary groups had been negotiating intensively over the plans in recent days. On Tuesday, it initially appeared that an agreement had been reached. The idea of formulating concrete targets was discussed. A lottery system, which would be used if not enough volunteers could be found, was also discussed.
The chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Matthias Miersch, said there were"key points." Jens Spahn (CDU), the chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, spoke of a"solution." Both spoke before their parliamentary group meetings, where the results of the agreement were to be explained. The press conference was scheduled to take place after the parliamentary group meetings, but was unexpectedly canceled.
The first debate on the draft bill in the Bundestag is scheduled to take place on Thursday. It was removed from the agenda last week due to the internal coalition dispute and rescheduled for this week. Whether it will be postponed again remains to be seen.
A spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group said:"We canceled the press conference because the intended agreement failed to materialize. We had fully expected this. We don't know when the first reading of the bill will take place and will inform you promptly."
epd/dpa/sebe
