EU NATO Wants Germany to Provide 40,000 Additional Troops - Low enlistment is one of the main challenges currently facing Germany’s armed forces.

NATO Wants Germany to Provide 40,000 Additional Troops
Bloomberg (archive.ph)
By Michael Nienaber
2025-05-28 16:58:03GMT


German soldiers take part in a drill during the NATO Quadriga military exercise, in Pabrade, Lithuania, in 2024.Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization wants Germany to contribute as many as 40,000 more troops for the alliance’s defense against Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.

The demand, which would add the equivalent of seven brigades, comes as part of a NATO review of its military capability targets, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the discussions are not public. The alliance has grown concerned about heightened Russian hostility since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

NATO defense ministers are expected to discuss the plan, which was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, during a meeting in Brussels next week intended to address new targets for weapons and troop numbers. There is no concrete time frame for deploying the additional troops, the people said, noting that a target date of 2030 would be desirable, if unrealistic.

Next week’s discussions could see overall brigade targets for NATO allies rise from around 80 to between 120 and 130, according to the Reuters report.

A defense ministry spokesman declined to comment on the figures, adding that the matter would be discussed at the meeting. A NATO official confirmed that the alliance “is setting ambitious new capability targets for Allies.”

With President Donald Trump expected to roll back US security commitments to Europe, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has pledged to play a greater role in the continent’s defense. The new center-right leader has vowed to revitalize the German military and transform it into Europe’s strongest conventional army.

As part of this push, Germany is currently ramping up a new brigade in Lithuania, with as many as 5,000 personnel expected to be on the ground by the end of 2027. That effort, which will count toward the NATO quota, will be the country’s first battle tank brigade to be permanently deployed abroad since World War II.

So far, Germany has pledged to provide NATO with 10 brigades of roughly 5,000 troops each by 2030. The country currently has nine brigades, including the one in Lithuania.

Low enlistment is one of the main challenges currently facing Germany’s armed forces. To encourage more young people to sign up for military service, the government recently passed a law to improve pay and working conditions for soldiers deployed abroad. The ruling coalition has also agreed to introduce a new model of voluntary military service.

Should that fail to attract enough people, however, politicians might be forced to re-introduce compulsory military service. That was paused under former chancellor Angela Merkel.

(Adds NATO response in fifth graph.)

 

[Overly Serious]

That's every military, though. Even before the foederati the easiest way for a Roman subject to get Roman citizenship was to do a term of service as a legionary, the French have the Foreign Legion, and under the American Nationality Act of 1940 the only Asians that were allowed to obtain naturalized citizenship were Filipino enlistees.

None of those cases are the host country relying on the foreign soldiers for defence of their country or making up the bulk of their forces. The current size of the German army is (may I be forgiven for using Wikipedia as a source), 63,000 soldiers. This request is for it to grow by 2/3rds again. I'll admit I don't know how many Filipinos the US army incorporated but I doubt they formed a large proportion of it. Also, how shall I put this, I think the national character of Filipinos may be somewhat distinct from the majority of immigrants to Germany.

I repeat, training large numbers of Germany's immigrant population to fight and then making them a major component of your armed forces is not the best idea I've ever heard.

tbf the foederati lived on the roman borders

Most immigrants are from far away places. The romans essentially hired, trained and paid their direct neighbours
Not THAT comparable, imo

but if the immigrants are allowed to stay in the country, then it becomes similair enough i guess

That is true. But I'd say that the world is a much smaller place, figuratively speaking, today than it was in Roman times. They had trade with distant lands but they couldn't ship and fly people in in vast quantities the way we can today. What I'm saying is that everywhere is your border these days. Well, more so than it was to Rome.

I'd also say that your soldiers don't have to sell you out to their original nations - it can be anyone. The essential problem is a lack of natural loyalty to the host and, when it comes to authoritarianism, a willingness to turn on the native population.

But I don't think either of us are majorly disagreeing with the other. I take your point.

 

[Snekposter]

None of those cases are the host country relying on the foreign soldiers for defence of their country or making up the bulk of their forces. The current size of the German army is (may I be forgiven for using Wikipedia as a source), 63,000 soldiers. This request is for it to grow by 2/3rds again. I'll admit I don't know how many Filipinos the US army incorporated but I doubt they formed a large proportion of it. Also, how shall I put this, I think the national character of Filipinos may be somewhat distinct from the majority of immigrants to Germany.

I repeat, training large numbers of Germany's immigrant population to fight and then making them a major component of your armed forces is not the best idea I've ever heard.

To be fair, looking at the "soldiers" in the article's image Abdul and Mohammed don't look that bad. The dude on the right looks like he's got a gunt and the rest don't look like they have much muscle on them. Might just be a perspective issue but the guy in the middle almost looks scrawny.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

And I want a unicorn. Unlike NATO I have realistic demands.

 

[William Murderface]

I know ultimately the US will have to step in and smack Russia out of Ukraine, especially after the mining rights pact.

But its humorous watching idiot EU countries try to figure out how to fight their own politically relevant but not direct conflicts after we've been giving them free military for the past 60 years.

One would think after the breakup of Yugoslavia, and the fact that the Europeans couldn't even handle that brushfire war without resorting to asking America to step in and do the heavy lifting, that the Europeans would have figured out that they need to be able to deal with European problems and that means maintaining their own European militaries, but here we are.

 

[Pokemon Conquistador]

One would think after the breakup of Yugoslavia, and the fact that the Europeans couldn't even handle that brushfire war without resorting to asking America to step in and do the heavy lifting, that the Europeans would have figured out that they need to be able to deal with European problems and that means maintaining their own European militaries, but here we are.

But how would they worship Socialism and engage in Weimar-style street sex orgies if they had to pay for their own defense?

 

[Fatsuit Shinji]

We're talking the same europeans who see the United States committing treason [against them] for refusing to continue being their free military.

 

[Nero Fiddled]

I thought Germany's armed forces were kept at a "capped" level based on the fact that the last two times we allowed them to ramp up their militant capabilities we ended up with a World War.

 

[Snekposter]

I thought Germany's armed forces were kept at a "capped" level based on the fact that the last two times we allowed them to ramp up their militant capabilities we ended up with a World War.

Na, during the Cold War they were expected to be Western Europe's first line of defense for obvious reasons, and they would have done a pretty decent job of that. Its just that when the USSR disappeared they were the first to embrace neoliberalism and all of its pretty little lies.

 

[Overly Serious]

This is the country who when the USA blew up their billion dollar gas pipeline they'd spent best part of a decade on, went "oh, we've no idea who might have had motive to do this. It'll just ever go unsolved." This is the nation that when the USA was found to be bugging Angela Merkel's phone, pouted "that's not what friends do" and sulked about it.

Do not expect great things from Germany. They can't stand up to their friends, let alone their enemies.