Permission to citizens of other EU countries to serve in the army of Germany will serve as a strong signal for “the European perspective”.
In the future, EU citizens will be able to serve in the Bundeswehr. On Saturday, June 18, reports the newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing a new edition of “White book” prepared by the Ministry of defence of Germany.
In the Chapter on personnel policy of the armed forces of Germany, in particular, specifies that the “opening of the Bundeswehr for EU citizens” will serve as a strong signal for “the European perspective”.
The Commissioner of the Bundestag for military Hans-Peter Bartels welcomed the offer of the German government. In his opinion, the Bundeswehr, perhaps, is for many young Europeans the “attractive prospect”. Thus a necessary condition is the knowledge of the German language.
On the other hand, Chairman of the Union of soldiers of the Bundeswehr Andre Wustner relates to the proposal with skepticism. In his opinion, of fundamental importance is the presence of soldiers of German nationality, which form the basis of “mutual trust between the state and the soldier.”
A proposal to allow Europeans to serve in the Bundeswehr is directly related to personal problems of the German armed forces. On 31st may, in the Bundeswehr are in the service of about 167 thousand people, which is below the target of 170 thousand.
As previously reported, the head of the Ministry of defense of Germany Ursula von der Leyen 2017 is going to expand the composition of the Bundeswehr by about 7 thousand people.
