Sebastian Schäffer in Fair Observer: Germany’s Military Service Act and the Governance Gap

A provision of Germany’s Military Service Modernisation Act (WDModG) that entered into force on 1 January 2026 required men aged 17 to 45 to obtain advance approval before spending more than three months abroad. It went unnoticed for three months. Once discovered, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius reversed it within days  without substantive parliamentary debate. 

In his latest article for Fair Observer, IDM Director Sebastian Schäffer, himself German and based in Vienna for over a decade, argues that the problem is not the strategic direction of European remilitarization, which is sound but the democratic process behind it. Drawing on the contrast with Austria’s notification-based model under the Military Act, he calls for clarity, visibility and structured public debate as Europe rebuilds defence frameworks dismantled after the Cold War. 

Read the full article here: https://www.fairobserver.com/politics/germanys-conscription-misstep-exposes-a-deeper-european-problem/