Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius reiterated his desire to have a military draft be anchored by law, while stressing that the military should first rely on volunteers.

Pistorius, in comments made to dpa ahead of a national conference of his Social Democratic Party (SPD), noted that his views differ from those of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) – the CDU/CSU bloc that leads a coalition with his SPD.

“I therefore explicitly do not share the demands from the CDU/CSU, which wants to switch to conscription as quickly as possible,” said Pistorius.

Recruiting soldiers via a draft is not even doable, he noted, because there is currently a lack of barracks and training grounds, even though more infrastructure is now being built than in previous years, he said. For the time being, the number of volunteers would suffice.

But Pistorius also said he does not align with those who reject a draft.

“I also oppose the voices that believe we must exclude any form of obligation,” Pistorius said. He stated that it is currently impossible to calculate reliably when mandatory conscription might need to be introduced.

“The decisive factor is that the mechanism is enshrined in the law,” he said.

“From the very beginning, it was important to me that we do not introduce the obligation lightly – and certainly not unilaterally. The draft legislation therefore stipulates that such a step would require the approval of both the Cabinet and the Bundestag.”