As of: March 14, 2024, 12:41 p.m
By: Sonja Ruf
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Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen at a press conference on February 13, 2024. © Imago/Ritzau Scanpix
The Bundeswehr in Germany is struggling with a shortage of personnel.
Neighboring country Denmark is now taking a historic step: women will also be called up in the future.
Copenhagen - One of the Bundeswehr's biggest challenges in the coming decade is to address its personnel shortage.
The Bundestag's military commissioner, Eva Högl (SPD), emphasized this when presenting the 2023 annual report a few days ago.
It said: Several units in the troop are already struggling with major “personnel vacancies”.
In addition, the proportion of women in the force remains constant at 15 percent.
That's not enough for the military commissioner.
Germany's Scandinavian neighbor Denmark is now taking an unconventional and new step in the area of defense policy.
In the future, women will also be called up for military service.
This was recently announced by the Danish government, represented by Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen.
In addition, defense spending is to be increased and the length of service for all men and women is to be extended from four to eleven months.
Frederiksen: “We are arming right now to avoid war”
Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen cited full gender equality and the growing challenges in the area of security and defense policy, also with regard to the Ukraine war in the east, which has already lasted more than two years, as the reasons for the decision.
He said: “More robust conscription, including full gender equality, must help solve the challenges of defence, national mobilization and manning our armed forces.”
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen embedded the decision in its larger geopolitical context: “We are not rearming in Denmark because we want war, destruction or suffering.
We are arming ourselves right now to avoid war and in a world in which the international order is being questioned." Her Foreign Minister added to the international partners of the NATO founding member: "Russia does not pose a threat to Denmark." said Rasmussen, "but we're not going to put ourselves in a position where they could do that."
In 2023, a quarter of a troop cohort in Denmark would already be female
According to official information, the Danish force consists of around 7,000 to 9,000 professional soldiers.
Around six million people live in Denmark.
For comparison: Germany has around 180,000 professional soldiers with a population of around 82 million.
In Denmark, until the current government announcement, compulsory military service only existed for all adult men.
In Denmark, women have already been able to volunteer in the past.
According to the news portal
Politico,
by 2023 a quarter of a troop class was made up of women.
In recent years, however, the need for soldiers has been even lower.
That has now changed significantly.
Denmark is now the third country in Europe, alongside Norway and Sweden, to introduce compulsory military service for women in the past ten years.
(soru)