As of: February 22, 2024, 7:14 a.m
By: Simon Schröder
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The Bundeswehr not only has an equipment problem, but also a serious personnel problem.
Pistorius is looking for the solution to this in Europe.
Berlin - The Bundeswehr has a massive problem.
The “Personnel Task Force” should now take care of this.
This “task force” convened by Boris Pistorius (SPD) is intended to look for ways to recruit new personnel for the Bundeswehr.
One idea: foreigners should also be able to join the army.
According to information obtained by
Business Insider
, there is a 71-page report that explains how the Bundeswehr's personnel shortage problem should be addressed.
Pistorius has a problem: the Bundeswehr is running out of soldiers
The personnel problem of the German armed forces is immense.
The
Tagesspiegel
calculated in a report: In order to maintain the current army size of around 180,000 soldiers, at least 20,000 soldiers would have to be added every year.
The Bundeswehr is currently missing its target and is shrinking, although it is aiming for growth in view of the current conflict areas, such as the war in Ukraine and the Middle East.
By 2031, the Bundeswehr is expected to grow to around 203,000 soldiers.
An ambitious goal given the current figures.
Boris Pistorius (SPD) Defense Minister.
© Marcus Brandt
Bundeswehr based on the Danish model – Pistorius wants foreigners in control
Pistorius spoke to the
Tagesspiegel
with a view to other EU states.
“We would not be the first armed forces in Europe to do this.
We are dedicating ourselves to this topic with the necessary thoroughness, but we are still at the beginning.” Role models such as France, Sweden and Denmark show us how to do it.
The possibility of including foreigners in the armed forces is particularly important for smaller states in order to remain functional.
In Denmark, for example, you can join the army as long as you live in Denmark and speak Danish, as
DW
reports.
Pistorius also sees a similar implementation in Germany as realistic.
The FDP would also support Pistorius with his Bundeswehr plan
Business
Insider
quotes the “Task Force” report here: “A consideration or hiring practice that is particularly important in the armed forces of other nations is opening up the armed forces to applicants who are not nationals of the respective nation.” Pistorius can also hope for support from the FDP and CDU/CSU .
Alexander Müller, for example, defense policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, can also imagine having EU citizens join the army.
“In my view, loyalty to the constitution, the desire to obtain German citizenship and a good knowledge of German are essential,” said the FDP politician.
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The police as a role model for the Bundeswehr
According to information from Business
Insider,
the police
should serve as a role model .
Theoretically, around five million EU citizens and another 1.8 million people from NATO member states live in Germany.
This would be almost seven million new potential recruits for the army.
However, the calculation is not quite as simple as
Business
Insider
shows using the example of the police.
Since 1993, the Bavarian state police have had an exception under which foreigners are also allowed to join the police force.
In total, there are 230 people in the state police who have been subject to this exception since 1993.
There are currently around 100 police officers without German citizenship working in the executive branch.
There are currently around 45,000 police officers on duty.
This means that civil servants without citizenship would only make up 0.22 percent of the staff.
The comparison shows that this would still be far from solving the Bundeswehr's personnel problem.
Therefore, other new incentives should also be created in order to reach the desired goal of 203,000 soldiers by 2031.
Suggestions range from recruiting new recruits including rewards to taking on “sea-experienced personnel” for the navy from the private sector, as quoted by the
Tagesspiegel
.
This year, the declared goal is to recruit at least 2,000 more soldiers than last year.
Whether this will succeed remains to be seen.
(SiSchr)