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Vice Admiral Jan Christian Kaack: "If the defense budget is not increased, then the special fund was a palliative measure"
Photo: Christophe Gateau / dpa
FDP leader Christian Lindner described the debate about a return to conscription as a "ghost discussion" and rejected the project.
From the point of view of the naval inspector Jan Christian Kaack, this is not a "ghost discussion": he had always been a supporter of conscription and was encouraged in his more than two years of service in Norway, said the Vice Admiral of the German Press Agency.
"I believe that a nation that also has to become more resilient in these times will have a better understanding if we have a mix with the soldiers," says Kaack.
In Norway, all young men and women would be screened.
That's about 70,000 a year.
The armed forces then defined how many they want to take.
That's around 15,000 a year.
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»Whereas we are only discussing how we are supposed to accommodate 200,000 young people.
That can also be arranged differently.« In Norway nobody talks about military justice.
There is a broad consensus that these young people could do something for the state once in their lives.
Kaack was commander of the NATO Joint Warfare Center in Stavanger (Norway) from 2019 to 2021 and has been a naval inspector for around a year.
Referring to the Bundeswehr's human resources, he said: "I am firmly convinced that, given the expected demographic development, we must broaden the base of those we can apply for.
It's a fact that we used to pull 70 percent of our long-term servants out of conscription."
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had previously described the suspension of conscription by the black-yellow federal government in 2011 as a mistake - and thus triggered a renewed debate on compulsory service with weapons.
Pistorius said in the Field Marshal Rommel barracks in Augustdorf that he had by no means brought up the subject of reintroduction.
He only spoke "in the context of compulsory military service in general" about the perception of the Bundeswehr in today's society.
"Conscription wouldn't help us at all for the next two or three years."
Special assets without a budget increase »palliative«
According to Kaack, the Bundeswehr can only cope with its tasks in the long term with a significant increase in the defense budget.
Buying a large weapons system via the 100 billion euro special fund set up last year is important, but it also has to be operated.
For this, the individual plan 14, as the defense budget is also called, must be increased.
"If the defense budget is not increased, then the special fund was a palliative measure," said Vice Admiral Kaack.
In times of peace, the states of the NATO defense alliance have set themselves the goal of increasing their defense spending to around two percent of economic output.
"The special fund alone won't do the trick," says Kaack.
Only the special fund and an increase in the budget would give an overall picture of the desired target of two percent of gross domestic product.
Quick decisions on research funds are also necessary so that future weapon systems can be developed.
He assumes that the defense budget item, which is currently around 50 billion euros per year, will be increased.
"And we make our projects watertight so that they can be picked up immediately when funds can flow," says the marine inspector.
From the original list of the special fund, some projects in the Navy were put on the waiting list.
"I would have liked to have imagined it differently."
abl/dpa