The German federal government is preparing the foundations for a new civilian service. Should military conscription be reinstated, "there would naturally need to be a corresponding alternative service," Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei (CDU) told broadcasters RTL and ntv on Tuesday. Preparations for "different situations and scenarios" are therefore already underway at the responsible Federal Family Ministry. According to a ministry spokeswoman, the ministry has already held talks with major associations that could offer placements for civilian service participants.
The government's planning is aimed at a scenario in which general conscription is reintroduced, for instance, if the Bundeswehr fails to meet its personnel targets through voluntary military service. In that case, an alternative service would also need to be offered to those who refuse military service.
Union faction leader Frei stressed that the necessary conditions must be established now: "In case of an emergency, one can never rule out that decisions might need to be made quickly." He said the federal government is preparing for exactly that.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Family Ministry stressed on Tuesday: "As long as we don't have general conscription, there is also no new civilian service." She said the old Civilian Service Act, which was applied until conscription was suspended in 2011, remains legally valid, but is also "in need of an overhaul."
According to the spokeswoman, the Federal Ministry for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth surveyed 23 major associations and organizations in recent months, asking what capacities they could make available for conscientious objectors should conscription return. 22 of them stated "that their infrastructure and deployment sites would, in principle, be ready to offer alternative service participants a placement in the event general conscription is reactivated," the spokeswoman said.
The government's plans met with a mixed response from potential providers. Several organizations declared their basic willingness on Tuesday to offer civilian service placements. At the same time, they cautioned against weakening existing voluntary service programs and called for making those programs more attractive.
According to Nadja Saborowski, team leader for Social Affairs, Migration and Volunteering at the German Red Cross (DRK), the organization could offer 20,000 places nationwide as part of a potential civilian service. "It would be important to us that civilian service be possible for a somewhat longer period, in the range of nine to twelve months," Saborowski told the news agency AFP. "Because participants need to be trained before they can take on the tasks. That represents an enormous effort for us as a provider."
Caritas president Eva Welskop-Deffaa expressed skepticism about the scope of a new civilian service. "Anyone who gives the impression that this is a way to solve the staffing problems of social institutions is raising completely false expectations," she told AFP.
She said that currently, "around 12,000 young people complete a Voluntary Social Year or a Federal Volunteer Service at Catholic institutions, so the potential is far from exhausted." She called for more incentives within existing programs: "A liveable allowance at the level of the maximum BAföG rate for volunteers, along with a free Deutschlandticket, would be strong incentives for a voluntary service for everyone."
Diakonie president Rüdiger Schuch stressed that his organization would, in the event civilian service is reinstated, "take on responsibility and set up civilian service placements within diaconal services and programs." However, he said he would fundamentally welcome it "if the services remain voluntary. Voluntary services are a driving force for democracy."
The AWO Federal Association called for "meaningful coordination with existing voluntary services, so that negative effects on this important and established form of engagement are avoided," adding that "the level of federal funding is also fundamentally relevant" to the number of possible civilian service places.
Der Paritätische Gesamtverband also warned against weakening existing voluntary services. "Der Paritätische prioritizes voluntary participation," said managing director Joachim Rock to AFP. "Social services depend on people who get involved on their own initiative. If a (needs-based) conscription is introduced, young people must be able to fulfil a possible alternative service under comparable conditions, so that a mandatory service doesn't weaken or displace voluntary services."
The opposition criticized the government's plans. A mandatory civilian service risks displacing regular, collectively bargained jobs in the social sector, Left Party leader Ines Schwerdtner told the Funke media group on Tuesday. In care, emergency services and social institutions, there is no need for "state-mandated cheap labor," she said.
FDP Secretary-General Martin Hagen criticized the government's plans to prepare a civilian service as "an admission of failure by the CDU, CSU and SPD." The fact that the federal government is drawing up plans for an alternative service shows "that it has no confidence whatsoever in its own efforts to reach the Bundeswehr's target strength through voluntary service," Hagen told the news agency AFP in Berlin.
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