German Coalition Partners Quarrel on Compulsory Military Draft

As part of building “the strongest Army in Europe,” the German government has plans to reintroduce the military draft. However, government coalition partners failed to reach an agreement on the draft scheme pushed by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. The CDU/CSU had rejected the proposal of Pistorius to recruit on a voluntary basis; and proposed a lottery (!), which Pistorius first accepted, and then, under pressure from the SPD parliamentary faction, rejected at the Oct. 14 cabinet meeting. CDU deputy faction head Norbert Röttgen accused Pistorius of being “destructive.” Now, the scheme will be discussed in the Bundestag.