All 18-year-old men to be screened for suitability for armed forces, but proposal falls short of conscription
The German parliament has rubberstamped a new model for military service that aims to boost its armed forces as thousands of school pupils demonstrated across the country against the plans.
The change will include the obligatory screening of all 18-year-old men to gauge their suitability to serve in the military from 1 January, but does not include conscription, as favoured by some conservative politicians.
If the model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of conscription, the defence minister, Boris Pistorius, told the Bundestag.
Pupils missed classes to take part in climate protest-style “school strike” demonstrations against the legislation in 90 towns and cities, despite warnings from education authorities that striking could affect their end of year grades.
