Late last week....Germany's Defense Minister (Boris Pistorius, SPD Party, considered future candidate for Chancellor) gave a speech in Washington that said two big things. First, there would have to be some type of re-introduction of the draft/conscription in Germany. Second....Germany's defense budget in the future would have to be 3 percent GDP spending. On this GDP talk.....he's stepping on a Merkel tradition that it rarely ever went above 1.5 percent, but it would be more than enough to get a positive view by Trump (if he does win in November) and ensure no US base closures.
Odds of either event happening? Well....I give it zero.
Today though, an odd statement or two came out via both the SPD Party and the CDU/CSU Party. Both hinted that some new draft probably would be created.
Creating a 'trick' to entice young recruits to accept a draft? I think if you said that pulling a 2-year draft deal....meant three years of earlier retirement in life (paid-early-retirement) would be such a trick.
Creating some kind of housing account where the gov't gifted you 5,000 Euro a year for a future house purchase, if you accepted some draft deal? That might also entice folks.
Getting to the 3 percent GDP level? You'd have to cut somewhere in a major way, and I don't see this being accepted in a election year (2025).
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