Berlin Briefing: Conscription comeback: Will Germany find 80,000 new soldiers?

It's a deal: Germany's coalition has agreed to restart voluntary military conscription from January 2026. But the law was negotiated without youth input, Quentin Gärtner from Germany's school pupils' association criticizes. The new model includes a path to mandatory mustering: every male born after 1 January 2008 will soon have to respond to a government questionnaire at age 18.