Amid Dire Warnings About Russia, Europe Has A Troop Problem

15 March 2024, Berlin: Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz receives Emmanuel Macron (r), President of France, and Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland, in front of the Chancellery for a joint meeting. (Photo by Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)

By Peter Green

Peter S. Green is a veteran foreign correspondent who has covered wars, revolutions and the evolution of democracy, capitalism and authoritarianism in Eastern Europe and the Balkans for The Times of London, the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times. He’s now based in New York, where he writes on both business and international affairs.

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — When France’s President Emmanuel Macron warned that Europe might have to send troops to Ukraine to stop Russia from advancing elsewhere in Europe, it was only the most extreme in a series of warnings that Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t stop at Ukraine – and that Poland, the Baltic states and other parts of the continent must prepare for Russian aggression. But in many European nations, where military recruitment lags and armies are a fraction of their Cold War size, experts and defense officials worry that military preparedness hasn’t matched the level of concern. 

On Thursday, German defense minister Boris Pistorius told a forum in Washington that Germany must renew the draft it abolished in 2011. “I’m convinced that Germany needs some kind of military conscription,” Pistorius said at the American-German Institute. “We need to ensure our military staying power in a state of national or collective defense.” He’s expected to present a formal proposal for conscription this month, as Germany moves to reorganize its military and add 20,000 troops over the next seven years. 

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