BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Conciliatory tones regarding the dispute over a new military service that has escalated in the SPD parliamentary group: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, parliamentary group deputy Siemtje Möller and MP Falko Droßmann have addressed their parliamentary group in a joint letter. “After the discussion at the parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, we want to clarify a few things about the new military service together,” write the SPD politicians in the paper that is available to the German Press Agency.
“The principle of voluntariness comes first and remains guiding for our further actions,” explain Möller, Pistorius and Droßmann. In the event that there are not enough volunteers for military service, “we must create clear legal regulations for any obligations.”
And they emphasize: “It is clear: the German Bundestag will decide on this.” At an SPD parliamentary group meeting at the beginning of the week, the defense minister argued vigorously against the proposal for a lottery procedure, which specialist politicians from the Union and SPD factions had already agreed on. Pistorius had spoken out in favor of all young men being mustered in the future.
In the letter, Möller, Pistorius and Droßmann are convinced that they can develop a modern military service together with the Union. In the first reading in the Bundestag, Pistorius and members of both government factions also showed themselves willing to compromise. The aim is for the military service law to come into force on January 1st./tam/DP/he