Former Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) expects a rapid reintroduction of conscription in view of new NATO guidelines on the personnel strength of the Bundeswehr.

"We should all be honest now and say that the suspended military service must soon be reinstated – as it was before, i.e. initially only for men," the former CDU chairwoman told the "Tagesspiegel" (Sunday edition). Kramp-Karrenbauer described it as a good first step that the coalition agreement initially aims to attract more volunteers through a more attractive military service, but at the same time doubted the effectiveness of the provision, as decisions are expected at the NATO Defense Ministers' meeting next Thursday that provide for a significant increase in the troop size: "I am skeptical whether we will achieve the necessary numbers with this alone." In the long term, she is "convinced that we need a service or military conscription that includes women and men." Unlike her successor as CDU party leader, Friedrich Merz, who in the Chancellery appears to have backed away from the delivery of Bundeswehr cruise missiles to Ukraine announced during the election campaign, Kramp-Karrenbauer is sticking to the demand.

"I have been in favor of a Taurus delivery from the beginning, and nothing has changed," she told the "Tagesspiegel": "Ukraine must be able to prevent attacks from Russian territory." Against the backdrop of the new protectionism in the United States under Donald Trump, the former CDU leader is calling for more intensive exchange with the Global South. "The success of our economy, which is the foundation of our social system and our way of living together, depends on international networking," she told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. "We can only transfer this successful model into the future if we adapt to the new world order—and, for example, strive much more intensively than before for partnerships in Africa." New states are needed "with whom we can reach fair agreements on raw materials, but also on labor," said the Christian Democrat. Kramp-Karrenbauer, who led a commission on Germany's future role for the think tank "Global Perspectives Initiative" and submitted corresponding proposals to the federal government last week, pointed out that young people have little chance of finding a job in their own country due to rapidly growing populations, despite often now having a very good education. "We should reach out to African school leavers and at the same time change the framework conditions so that German companies can invest more easily in Africa," said the CDU politician: "That would be a win-win situation for both sides – our growth is also hampered by a lack of skilled workers." The CDU politician believes that the existing approaches to German Africa policy have "not been brought together into an overall strategy" and have not been implemented "consistently enough": "If we want immigration from certain developing countries, we must promote their education systems and prepare people early on for our language and what they can expect from us."