German Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) wants to strengthen voluntary service programs. On Tuesday, she announced plans to introduce draft legislation later this year. Prien also sees the proposed law as preparation for a civilian service should compulsory military service be reintroduced. While there is broad support for strengthening voluntary services, more far-reaching steps have met with reservations.
“We need to think about the resilience of our society. The question of what I can do for my country is central,” Prien told the Rheinische Post on Tuesday. “That is why we want to strengthen not only the Bundeswehr but also the Federal Volunteer Service, the Youth Voluntary Services and civil and disaster protection.” “It is also about awakening people’s willingness in Germany to commit themselves to this country and its security,” the minister emphasized. She said she would “introduce draft legislation this year that largely regulates the community services jointly.”
Caritas President Eva Welskop-Deffaa described a law to strengthen voluntary services as “overdue.” In recent years, “constant back-and-forth over the financing of voluntary services has unsettled providers and placement agencies,” she said. This must come to an end. “The security policy situation is placing increasing pressure on our democracy,” Welskop-Deffaa stressed. “We cannot respond to this solely with military means. Voluntary services make an indispensable contribution to our social cohesion and strengthen our democracy. They must be designed to be broadly attractive.”
Support has also come from the Green Party. “Strengthening voluntary services is right and overdue,” said deputy parliamentary group leader Misbah Khan in comments to AFP. However, this must “not remain mere symbolic politics.” The Green politician called for “reliable and sufficient funding in the federal budget” for these services.
Khan noted that the problem is not a lack of willingness among young people but a shortage of available placements. “The central deficit is therefore not a lack of engagement, but a lack of capacity.” The goal, she said, should be “a legal entitlement for everyone to a voluntary service.”
Prien also views the voluntary service legislation as possible preparation for a civilian service in the event that conscription is reinstated. “There is no civilian service as long as we do not have conscription,” the minister told the Rheinische Post. “Nevertheless, we can already prepare for it.” According to Prien, the aim is to “lay the foundation for a modern civilian service.”
Caritas President Welskop-Deffaa, however, warned against going too far in that direction. “The announced law must not put the cart before the horse,” she said. As long as it is unclear whether conscription will return, “reorganizing civilian service is only very limitedly feasible.” The Social Democratic Party expressed a similar view. “We expressly welcome the modernization and further improvement of voluntary services,” SPD member of parliament Felix Döring told AFP.
It is important for the SPD “not only to make military service significantly more attractive, but also to promote voluntary services.” “At present, the question of reintroducing conscription does not arise for us, since we have modernized voluntary military service,” Döring added. “Thus, there is no need to transform voluntary services into a compulsory substitute service.”
Sharp criticism came from the Left Party. “Minister Prien wants to strengthen voluntary services, but in reality she is turning them into an instrument of militarization,” said Mandy Eißing, the Left’s family policy spokesperson, in comments to AFP. Voluntary services must remain voluntary, Eißing demanded, with regard to a possible civilian service.
“Anyone who truly wants to strengthen them must properly fund the existing services instead of misusing them as a recruitment tool.” In the Rheinische Post, Prien had also spoken in favor of youth officers from the Bundeswehr visiting schools, a move criticized by Eißing.
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