Germany‘s top general says conscription will be neccessary to ensure it can defend itself against Russia. The country has already missed a goal of increasing its soldiers by 20,000 to bring the total to around 203,000, with other major European powers, including the UK, struggling to attract willing recruits.
But the country’s Chief of Defence Carsten Breuer believes Berlin now needs to go much further. Speaking to Radio 4, he said the nation’s military needed 100,000 more troops and that conscription in “some form” would “absolutely” be neccessary for Europe’s largest economy to defend itself. “We won’t get this additional 100,000 soldiers without having one or the other, a model of conscription,” he argued.
“We don’t have to determine now what model brings them. For me it’s only important that we get the soldiers in.”
Mr Breuer believes the full-scale invasion Vladimir Putin launched in February 2022 won’t be the last aggressive incursions into other countries launched by Russia, and warns that Moscow could attack NATO territory in as little as four years.
He told the broadcaster: “It’s not about how much time I need, it’s much more about how much time Putin gives us to be prepared. And the sooner we are prepared the better.”
European powers have been scrambling to increase their defence spending, with US President Donald Trump and his isolationist administration consistently casting doubt on Washington’s commitment to Europe’s security.
Trump has also struck a friendly tone towards Russia in recent weeks as Washington holds talks with Moscow and Kyiv over ending the war, prompting fears that the US could grant major concessions to Putin and embolden the Russian leader’s territorial ambitions.
Many Germans, and German politicians, remain wary of militarising due to the long, dark shadow cast by the First and Second World Wars.
But a sign of the seriousness with which Berlin is treating the threat of Russia, lawmakers voted two weeks ago to allow a record level of state borrowing for defence and infrastructure spending, by changing Germany’s strict, constitutionally enshrined fiscal rules, as per EuroNews.
Meanwhile, France and Britain are forging ahead with plans to deploy troops in Ukraine to defend an eventual peace deal, following a summit of countries that have been mulling the proposal on Thursday.
French President Emmanuel Macron said “several” nations other than France and Britain want to be part of the peacekeeping force but said, “It is not unanimous.”
Paris and London say such a force would aim to secure any peace deal by dissuading Russia from attacking Ukraine again.
“We do not need unanimity to achieve it,” Macron said. French and British military officials will work with Ukraine to determine where the contingents should be deployed and how many troops they’d need to be a credible deterrent, the French leader added.
“There will be a reassurance force with several European nations that will deploy,” he insisted.