WSJ learned about Germany's difficulties in recruiting soldiers because of Generation Z

Germany is having trouble meeting its recruitment goals due to young people who see no point in serving in the Bundeswehr. This was reported on January 17 by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The article notes that young people are primarily wondering why they should join the army and potentially sacrifice their lives for the sake of a country that spends a quarter of the federal budget on pensions for the elderly.

According to Benedict Sacher, a 25-year-old mathematics student and tutor, "in a democracy, you do something for the state and get something in return." He added that his students think they are not getting anything from the state, and as a result "they are becoming more and more selfish."

The author of the article notes that young people are very important to the army, not only because of their physical abilities, but also because the Bundeswehr has been unable to contact most of the 930,000 reservists in any way — since 2011, the archives have stopped storing their files, and data protection laws do not allow using other personal archives to search for them.

At the same time, some representatives of generation Z declare that, despite their disagreement to join the army, in the event of hostilities, they are ready to go to war "out of solidarity and because democracy is worth it in the end."

Death to a German: why they don't like America anymore in Germany

Trump's conservative and isolationist policies have led to rejection in Germany

In December last year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that military service could be returned to Germany in the coming years and compulsory alternative civilian service restored. He also expressed regret that the German Constitution does not provide for the possibility of compulsory military service for women.

Before that, on December 8, Merz also said that if there were insufficient recruits to the Bundeswehr, Germany could return to discussing the introduction of compulsory military service. Currently, the country's authorities still rely on voluntary service, he said.

On November 12, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, amid a discussion in Germany of a new law on military service, said that everyone should serve in the army. The President recalled that in 1995, the country pledged to provide the alliance with up to 500,000 soldiers who had to be ready for combat operations within three years, which was not possible due to voluntary military service.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.