German government approves bill to boost military reserves

Germany's center-right-led coalition government passed a bill on Wednesday aimed at significantly boosting its military reserve forces.

"In light of the changed security situation, the framework conditions for building a strong and reliable reserve are to be established. For this reason, the federal government has adopted the draft Reserve Strengthening Act," the government said on its website.

"The changing threat landscape in Europe and the resulting security policy requirements for our defense and deterrence capabilities call for a significant expansion of the Bundeswehr — both in terms of quality and quantity," it added.

The Reserve Strengthening Act is intended to increase the number of reservists to 200,000 by 2035. As part of that goal, the German military (Bundeswehr) is set to grow to 460,000 personnel by 2035.

Currently, only about 60,000 soldiers are permanently assigned to the reserves. The new legislation extends eligibility to all former soldiers who were not dishonorably discharged.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said: "A modern democracy must be able to defend its freedom. To do that, we need a reserve force that is rapidly deployable, well-trained, and closely linked to the active-duty troops."