Why would German citizens need permission from the military to travel abroad?

Male German citizens between the ages of 17 and 45 may no longer be able to leave the country without permission from the military.

It should be noted that a new law has recently been introduced in Germany under which voluntary military service will have to be done. And for this reason, if a man wants to go abroad for a long time, he will have to first get permission from the army.

The ‘Military Service Modernization‘ Act, which went into effect on January 1, aims to improve the country’s defense capabilities in light of threats from Russia.

In a statement to the BBC, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed that men over the age of 17 must first obtain permission if they want to travel abroad for more than three months.

Under current law, this permission is expected to be granted under normal circumstances. It is unclear what will happen if someone travels abroad without permission.

Until now, there was not much information about this new law, but the matter came to light after a report was published in a German newspaper on Friday.

A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry said the law aims to “ensure a reliable and meaningful military registration system.” “In an emergency, we need to know who is out of the country for a long time,” he said.

This statement makes it clear that its impact on the youth in the country could be quite significant.

The law is based on Germany’s 1956 Recruitment Act, which has been amended several times, most recently in December last year. Before that, permission to stay abroad was only required when the country was facing a state of emergency.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said a similar requirement existed during the Cold War. Germany’s new law aims to increase the number of active-duty soldiers from 180,000 to 260,000 by 2035.

In December, the German parliament voted to introduce voluntary military service, under which every young man aged 18 will be sent a questionnaire from January asking whether they want to join the army.

Under the law, such young men will also have to undergo a physical test by July 2027 to determine whether they are eligible for military service in the event of war. Women can also join the army voluntarily, but under the German constitution they cannot be forced to.

It should be noted that although the current law is designed for voluntary service, some form of compulsory military service may be introduced if the security situation deteriorates or if there are too few volunteers.

When the law was introduced in Germany, many young people protested against the change. One of the organizers of the protest wrote on social media, “We don’t want to waste half our lives locked up in barracks, learning to obey, drill and kill.“

Like other European countries, Germany reduced its military in the 1990s. During the Cold War, the German army consisted of about half a million people.

In 2011, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel abolished compulsory military service in Germany.

Current Chancellor Friedrich Merz has expressed his intention to make the German army the strongest conventional army in Europe, which, according to his government, is a response to the current dangerous situation in Europe.