Roderich Kiesewetter, a CDU foreign‑policy spokesman, urged the current German president, Frank‑Walter Steinmeier, to open a national discussion about a compulsory year of service for all citizens. “I would like to arrange high‑level talks between churches, trade unions and the political arena” he told the weekly “Welt” on Saturday. “The president could invite the parties to start this debate in his final year in office”.
Kiesewetter says that the debate has too narrowly focused on conscription. “We need to talk not about military conscription, but about a compulsory year of societal service” he explained. He added that polls show a portion of the armed‑eligible population would consider leaving the country if an attack were to occur. “We must offer them an alternative-a public‑service duty that imposes a mandate but also gives them a choice: population protection, disaster relief, nursing assistance, emergency services, integration and educational work-and, of course, military service”.
He noted that the federal government has recently tightened options in volunteer programmes. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under Johann Wadephul (CDU), announced that the cultural volunteer programme would be discontinued in order to save about €5 million per year”.
Kiesewetter pointed out that the armed forces currently require 20,000 personnel, and in a few years might need 60,000 young men and women for service. “A single cohort contains roughly 800,000 people” he said. “It’s feasible, but narrowing the debate to conscription drowns out the whole society, because it’s not about crisis resilience”.
He blamed the hesitation among politicians on a lack of political will. “We have to make the people see the apparent burdens as opportunities to make this country more resilient and a better partner to our allies” he said. “We need the courage to get the truth out. We must tell the public clearly what’s happening: Will we continue to let drone flights from Russian ships over German ports and power plants go unchecked?”
Kiesewetter frequently said that Germany is not officially at war with Russia, but that Russia considers itself at war with Germany and is actively waging it. “We must explain to the population that Russia has defined war since 2013, following the Gerassimow Doctrine-hybrid information distortion, civilian sabotage, and military expansion”.
