Germany’s Merkel rejects call to reintroduce conscription

BERLIN – Chancellor Angela Merkel is rejecting calls for the reintroduction of military conscription in response to an investigation of an alleged far-right plot by two soldiers to assassinate prominent political figures.

Merkel’s government ended conscription in 2011. A prominent lawmaker in the chancellor’s conservative party, Patrick Sensburg, has argued that conscription should be introduced because citizens in uniform are “a reliable early-warning system to recognize extremism of the left and right.”

Merkel said Thursday Germany made a fundamental decision on conscription, “and we should conduct necessary reforms in continuity with this decision.” She added that “what the Bundeswehr needs is predictability.”

Prosecutors believe the soldiers planned to blame their attack on refugees. One of the soldiers allegedly passed himself off as a Syrian refugee while also serving with the Bundeswehr.