German Defense Minister Calls for increase military spending and reintroduction of conscription

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has warned that his country needs to take swift and radical steps to boost its defense capabilities, including a return to conscription and a significant increase in military spending.

Pistorius’s statements came during an interview with The Times newspaper, where he stressed that Germany must be prepared to confront a possible Russian attack on NATO within the next four to seven years.

Pistorius explained that Germany needs a giant leap forward to revive its stagnant economy by investing in the military, noting that this investment is not only for current security, but also to ensure the future of future generations.

“Security is the foundation of everything else, our prosperity, our society, our European way of life,” he said.

According to estimates by the German Defense Ministry, NATO could ask Germany to mobilize nearly half a million troops in the event of a Russian attack.

Pistorius stressed that this situation requires an honest discussion about the need to incur debt to finance these military preparations.

“We need to be honest with ourselves, and these are essential investments for our security and the future of our children,” he added.

These statements come at a time when Europe is facing unprecedented security challenges in light of the escalating Russian threats.

Pistorius warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin despises Western societies and wants to change the international order, considering that Russia is in a state of war with the West, stressing that the Russian threat will remain even with the possibility of achieving peace in Ukraine.

Pistorius pointed out that Germany currently spends just over 2% of its GDP on defense, which is insufficient given the current challenges.

He explained that this percentage includes the 100 billion Euros rearmament fund, which will run out in two or three years.

After that, the basic defense budget will return to about 1.2% of GDP, a figure Pistorius describes as totally insufficient.

The German minister called for raising military spending to at least 3%, and preferably 3.5% of GDP, which would mean saving an additional 70 billion Euros annually.

He pointed out that this spending should focus in particular on strengthening the defense industrial base, noting that the German Navy has less than 60 ships, which is the smallest fleet since the 1950s.

Pistorius also called for the revival of the conscription system, which was suspended in 2011.

He explained that expanding the number of soldiers would only be possible by gradually re-implementing this system.

The defense minister has proposed a plan for a limited return to national service similar to the Swedish model, where the fittest young men are trained for six months, with the option of extending the service to 23 months and learning a military specialty.

However, Pistorius faces political challenges in implementing the plan, as his coalition partners have opposed it, but he has indicated that the conservative party led by Friedrich Merz, which is expected to dominate the next government, agrees with him on the need to train as many young people as possible to bolster the reserve forces.

Pistorius believes that the current security challenges are no less serious than those Germany faced during the Cold War, but the main difference is that many Germans have not yet realized the extent of the threat.

He stressed that strengthening the armed forces also requires internal reforms, including amending the German constitution to allow increased debt to finance military spending without sacrificing public spending on welfare.

He also noted that competition between welfare and defense spending could create dangerous social divisions.

“I cannot afford to open trenches in our society… We need to strengthen our security without sacrificing our social cohesion,” Pistorius said.