Germany considers year of national service for young people and migrants
‘If refugees complete such a year, which could be voluntary or mandatory, it would help to integrate them into the country and society’
Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party is floating the idea of a new form of compulsory national service in Germany for all young people and migrants.
For over 50 years, all German men were obliged to spend a year in the army after leaving school. Those who couldn’t, or wouldn’t, volunteered their time in community service instead.
The programme was abolished in 2011, but the belief that young people should dedicate a year to national service persists in many conservative circles. Now, the CDU leadership, keen to reunite the party around traditional core values, is revisiting the concept.
The programme would see some young people join the military, the fire service, or help with disaster relief. The CDU hope others would choose to volunteer as care workers, thereby helping address chronic staff shortages in care homes and hospices.
The proposal came after Kramp-Karrenbauer – among the favourites to succeed Merkel as the head of the party – conducted a “listening tour” of the CDU grassroots, gathering ideas for a new manifesto to be presented at the upcoming party conference in December. “Many CDU members mentioned reintroducing the draft or general compulsory service,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told the Funke Mediengruppe news group on Saturday, adding that she still remained undecided. She also explained the suggestions she had heard often mentioned including migrants, something she thought “worth considering”.