Survey: Nearly half of Germans support reintroducing military service
Around half of German citizens are in favour of reintroducing compulsory military service, according to a survey by opinion research institute Forsa.
In the poll commissioned by German news magazine Stern, 52% of respondents were in favour of compulsory military service, the magazine said on Tuesday.
Some 43% were against it and 5% expressed no opinion.
According to the data, the strongest supporters of compulsory military service were found in the over-60 age group, with 59% in favour. In contrast, 59% of 18 to 29-year-olds were against compulsory military service.
No questions were asked about the duration and organization of such compulsory service.
Compulsory military service was suspended in Germany in July 2011 after 55 years.
Last year there were only 181,500 men and women serving in Germany's armed forces, but in order to strengthen its defence capabilities, the German government wants the Bundeswehr to grow considerably.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is currently having models of compulsory service examined.
These include a type of model conscription practised in Sweden, where all young men and women are conscripted and a selected number receive offers of service.
The reintroduction of compulsory military service has met with resistance from the parties within the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, particularly from pro-business Free Democrats but also from Scholz's Social Democrats and the Greens.
