“MILITARY service will remain voluntary only temporarily,” a former German MP and peace campaigner warned today after Berlin announced compulsory registration with the armed forces for all 18-year-olds.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s governing coalition has announced that all citizens born in or after 2008 will register with the military aged 18, with male citizens required to undergo medical examination for their fitness to serve, and fill in a questionnaire about their readiness to.

Soldiers’ pay will rise to €2,600 (£2,200) a month and recruits will receive subsidised driving licences in measures aimed at boosting voluntary recruitment, after initial proposals to reintroduce conscription were dropped due to political opposition. However, if recruitment falls short of army targets — which are to raise the size of the army from 182,000 to 255-270,000 active-duty soldiers and 200,000 reserves — obligatory call-ups can be authorised by parliament on a “needs” basis.

“The federal government plans to massively expand the Bundeswehr” (German military), former MP Sevim Dagdelen told the Morning Star. Its planned strength of 460,000 will breach the “two-plus-four” treaty that reunified Germany, she noted, which imposed a maximum size of 370,000.

“It has pledged to Nato to increase the number of troops by one third. Instead of 20,000, 70,000 are to be recruited annually — this cannot be achieved on a voluntary basis.

“Compulsory military service aims at war readiness, not defence,” she said. “It is about military operational capacity against Russia — [former foreign minister] Annalena Baerbock herself said ‘we are waging a war against Russia.’ Military service will remain voluntary only temporarily.”

The massive rearmament drive was in line with demands from the United States that European Nato members sharply raise military spending, she added.

“The US sets the direction, Germany follows. Nato is to fight Russia while the US focuses on China — German soldiers are to die for US interests,” she charged, calling for Germany instead to leave Nato.

Chancellor Merz has also announced subsidies to lower energy prices for German heavy industry, acknowledging that soaring energy costs since the Ukraine war started have made German industry less competitive and raised the price of manufacturing, including for rearmament. Such measures will need approval from the European Union, he acknowledged.