Restructuring for a more "professional" force
01 November 2003
At first sight, the recent moves by the Defence Minister, Peter Struck, to downsize the armed forces might seem to indicate the decreasing importance of Germany's military. The opposite is in fact the case. Whilst numerous garrisons in Germany are being closed, resulting in many job losses, the army is being prepared for a more "professional" deployment for "international crisis management". This move entails the abolition of compulsory conscription (Statewatch, vol 12 no 2) in order to gain a stronger position in NATO and the future EU Rapid Reaction Force. The aim is for the German military to become an "important player at the international level".
On 27 November, Struck stated that until 2010 the number of garrisons and other "logistical facilities" will be reduced nationwide from 109 to 59. Twenty garrisons have already been ordered to close and 12 have been drastically reduced in size. Around 5,000 jobs, both soldiers and civilian employees, will be cut, with some federal states suffering many more job losses than others. This has led to protests by some regional parliaments. The armed forces will become "professional" and will be deployable without conscripts - in deployments such as Kosovo, conscripts were criticised as being more of a hindrance than a help in "real" war situations. Although Struck still claims he personally does not want to abolish compulsory conscription (because he thinks that "society will be alienated from the army") his governing Social Democrat Party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) is preparing a conference for the end of 2004 on the pros and cons of conscription, hinting at its abolition in the near future.
The move towards increasing Germany’s military role is supported by the current red-green coalition with its recent announcement of a draft law on deployment outside of Germany which changes the rules on(Bundestag (Lower House) decisions on "small deployments" and extensions of existing deployments, making them easier, (i.e. quicker and less problematic). According to the draft regulation, the president of the Bundestag will pass on requests for deployment to the relevant committees and if no request for parliamentary involvement has been made within seven days, the matter is taken as agreed. In cases of "immanent danger" no parliamentary consultation is necessary, but it has to be sought retrospectively and if rejected can lead to the return of the deployed forces. However, past cases have shown that illegal deployments (i.e. failure by governments to consult parliaments) have not led to repercussions or the withdrawal of soldiers from crisis areas. In 1993, the federal army undertook its first post-second-world-war military activity abroad in Yugoslavia, a government decision which was later declared unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court for failing to seek a parliamentary vote, although the deployment itself was retrospectively deemed legal through a 1994 ruling.
In 1993 Germany's army was sent abroad a second time, to Somalia (again the Court reprimanded the government for failing to consult parliament). In 1997 German armed forces evacuated 116 people from Tirana, Albania's capital city. Here the Prime Minister argued the situation had been so urgent it had been impossible to consult parliament (see Statewatch vol 11 no 6). German soldiers are currently taking part in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan: around 1,820), KFOR (Kosovo Force: around 3,350), SFOR (Stabilization Force - Bosnia and Herzegovina: around 1,320), CONCORDIA (Macedonia: around 40), NATO headquarters (Skopje, Macedonia: 12), UNOMIG (United Nations Mission in Georgia: 11), Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan, Horn of Africa/Gulf of Oman, Kenya: around 300). Altogether, around 7,300 soldiers are participating in deployments abroad (31 October 2003), not including special "elite" forces such as the KSK in their covert involvement in crisis areas s