BERLIN, September 4. /TASS/. The Bundeswehr (German armed forces) will expand this year for the first time in the last 5-6 years, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told Sat 1 TV channel in an interview.

"This year we will be in the black in terms of recruitment. This means that for the first time we will enlist more people than those who leave the ranks of the Bundeswehr," he said.

At the end of 2024, 181,150 people served in the German army, and 181,500 at the end of 2023. The Defense Ministry is seeking to increase the Bundeswehr to 260,000 soldiers, and the reserve to 200,000 people.

On August 27, the government approved Pistorius' bill on a new model of military service, which introduces a voluntary service based on the Swedish model. In the Scandinavian country, all school graduates are subject to military inspection, but only a fraction of them ends up serving on active duty. The document also contains "enforceable elements," which include, for instance, the return of the examination of conscripts and the mandatory filling out of an application by men from 18 to 25 years of age stating their readiness to serve. The bill does not exclude a return to universal military service.

Germany abolished compulsory military conscription in 2011, after which it shifted to a professional army.