As threats to Western Europe grow more pressing, the German military has been having difficulty attracting enough recruits.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has announced an ambitious plan to grow the ranks of his country’s armed forces up to 230,000 personnel, a marked increase from the current target of 203,000.
Answering questions in the Bundestag on Wednesday, Pistorius referred to NATO requirements.
“There is the Two Plus Four Agreement. It stipulates how many standing forces and how many may be in reserve. Nobody is planning any increase beyond this limit, but it is simply a matter of setting up the armed forces in such a way that we fulfil the Two Plus Four Agreement.”
He added that by recruiting more active troops, Germany will ensure it is legally compliant with relevant international and national legislation.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO has demanded that its members increase their defence capacities to boost the alliance’s strength.
However, the German armed forces — the Bundeswehr — have been struggling to recruit people for years. Germany currently has 180,000 active personnel, approximately 20,000 short of its current target.
The targets Pistorius proposes are likely to make an already difficult objective all the harder.
