Germany has unveiled a plan to reintroduce national service and boost its depleted military, but the plans have been called discriminatory against men.
Teenagers will receive a letter on their 18th birthday asking them to consider between six months and two years in military service.
Men will have to fill out their personal details such as fitness, willingness to serve, marital and educational status or risk punishment, possibly a fine.
For women, filling out the questionnaire will be optional. The decision, presented by defence minister Boris Pistorus on Wednesday, has been criticised as not fair on men.
“In the interests of military justice, both young women and young men should have to fill out a so-called compulsory questionnaire,” said Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman, the outgoing chair of the defence committee and a member of chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.
Johann Wadephul, an opposition lawmaker with the Christian Union party, agreed.