German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans to speed up the process of reintroducing compulsory military service in his country, the Spiegel magazine has reported.
He gave the Defense Ministry until April 1 to present options for a German military service model that makes a major contribution to "national resilience."
The move is "a clear sign of the rearmament taking place in Europe," Mikael Valtersson, a former officer of Swedish Armed Forces/Air Defense, former defense politician and chief of staff with the Sweden Democrats, said in an interview with Sputnik.
Such a process "might result in a new arms race and increased confrontations in Europe," Valtersson warned. In an apparent nod to Germany, he said that "With conscription, the entire society becomes much more militarized, since a large part of the population have military experience."
The ex-defense politician recalled that, "The resistance against conscription [in Germany] has decreased during the last years, partly as a result of the conflict in Ukraine and the following heightened tension between the West and Russia."
“But also to a large degree due to an intense campaign from Western media and politicians trying to scare the population with the threat from Russia. A large part of the population still remains skeptical of conscription,” Valtersson added.
At the same time, he argued that, "With a bigger military, Germany will of course get a larger influence in European security and politics." According to the former Swedish officer, "German capacity to replace the US as the main conventional defender in Europe will also increase with a military partially based on conscription."
Touching upon Russian-German ties, he said that “conscription in itself” would not affect them, “but in combination with general rearmament and a very militaristic language from German media and politicians it will worsen relations.”
He was echoed by Stefan Keuter, a German politician for the Alternative for Germany party and a member of the Bundestag since 2017, who told Sputnik that the country “has already a regular army, the Bundeswehr”, which is "integrated into the Western defense alliance."
If strengthened, the European "axis of the alliance" could reduce dependence on the Americans, Keuter noted.
It remains unclear "how things will develop in Washington and a high level of defense preparedness cannot be a disadvantage," he added, apparently referring to former US President Donald Trump’s previous remarks about his unwillingness to defend NATO countries that don’t meet spending guidelines.