Germany's defence dilemma: Missing million hampers military buildup
Data protection regulations prevent the German army from contacting nearly a million potential reservists while Berlin tries to increase the size of its armed forces, "Financial Times" reported, citing the reservist organization VdRBw.
- We have lost their contacts. It's crazy, - Patrick Sensburg, head of the Association of Reservists of the German Armed Forces (VdRBw), said in an interview with the "FT".
When the Berlin government suspended conscription in 2011, the army stopped tracking former conscripts, and data protection regulations restrict the military's access to citizens' residence information.
Established in the early 1960s, VdRBw is funded from the defence budget, and its duties include training and contacting reservists.
New German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that his country would play a leading role in NATO and in defending Europe from Russian aggression, and he has allowed for unlimited loans for defence spending - the British newspaper recalled.
According to officials, the greatest challenge for the armed forces right now is the number of military personnel. General Inspector of the Bundeswehr Carsten Breuer assessed that the number of professional soldiers must increase from about 180,000 to 200,000 by the end of the decade. The army also needs about 260,000 reservists - he added. Currently, there are only about 60,000.
In Germany, there are approximately 10 million people who have completed military service or previously served as professional soldiers, but as many as 9 million of this group are over 65 years old. Due to data protection regulations, VdRBw cannot contact the remaining million, which includes about 93,000 people who served in Afghanistan.
We don’t even know how physically fit they are, if they would like to serve again, - Sensburg said.
The German Ministry of Defence seeks to solve the problem
In his opinion, if at least 25 percent of this group were in sufficiently good health and willing to return to service, the goal of the number of reservists could be achieved.
Sensburg emphasized that while the body responsible for collecting the television licence fee can contact citizens just a few weeks after they move, VdRBw cannot locate the people whose names are listed in the organization's registers. The Ministry of Defence is trying to find a way to reconcile data protection regulations with the requirements for supplementing the reserve force, he said.
Since 2021, soldiers leaving active service are automatically registered as reservists.
