Johannes Winkel, leader of the Young Union, has called for a return to conscription starting as early as next January. Speaking to the Funke media group’s newspapers (Sunday editions), Winkel stated that the country has been discussing the Ministry of Defence’s shortage of tens of thousands of soldiers for years. He expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of current measures, such as distributing questionnaires across the country and evaluating them with immense bureaucratic effort, claiming these efforts would fail to impress Putin. Instead, he insisted that a “courage for decisions” is needed, specifically advocating for the reintroduction of mandatory military service beginning January 1, 2027. Furthermore, Winkel argued that the energy and time spent reacting to every tweet from Trump should be redirected toward developing the nation’s own defense capabilities.
Politics
