War capability of the Bundeswehr
Military Commissioner supports Pistorius
November 10, 2023, 1:02 a.m
Pistorius’ talk of a war-ready army is not met with universal approval in the SPD. The Bundeswehr’s military commissioner demonstratively confirms the Defense Minister’s analysis: Our freedom is in danger.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is receiving support from his own party for his statements about “war-readiness” and a socially necessary “change in mentality” in the Bundeswehr. Eva Högl, SPD politician and defense representative of the German Bundestag, told the “Tagesspiegel”: “It is good and right for Boris Pistorius to point out how serious the situation is.” The SPD politician continued: “I’m talking about defense readiness and defensive democracy. What we mean is the same thing.”
Similar to Pistorius, Högl also called for a social rethink. “It’s important to defend our freedom again. This is not just the task of the Bundeswehr, everyone is required to do so,” she continued to tell the newspaper: “We can’t dump everything on the soldiers, according to the motto: You do it That’s true when things get serious.” To do this, there needs to be more intensive education and debate about the new world situation: “There should be more discussion in schools about war and peace and the role of the Bundeswehr, and preferably in a contentious way.”
According to the military commissioner Eva Högl, the troops have “reached their absolute limits in this world situation”. The Bundeswehr has been challenged like never before in recent years. This applies in particular to the Navy and the units operating on NATO’s eastern flank. “Artillery battalions provide material to support Ukraine, which makes their own training more difficult, and also train the Ukrainian forces,” Högl explained: “It’s the same with anti-aircraft defense.” While the “general shortage of materials and personnel” puts particular strain on some units, “many others are not fully operational for this reason.”
Mützenich keeps his distance
Against this background, recruiting personnel is crucial, said Högl, who pointed to a personnel task force in the Ministry of Defense that is supposed to make appropriate proposals by the end of the year. “Anyone who flirts with the Bundeswehr is gold dust – none of them should be lost to us,” said the Armed Forces Commissioner: “I have far too many cases on my desk where exactly this has happened, through an unclear speech or reply letters that only arrive if the interested party has already found something else.” Therefore, “you have to invest a lot more energy, especially at the beginning of the process, to keep them on track.”
Pistorius had previously received criticism within the SPD for his call for “war-readiness”. SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich distanced himself from this over the weekend and said he would not adopt this choice of words. “Becoming war worthy or capable of war does not do justice to the complexity,” Mützenich told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung”. This tends to fuel social conflicts.