{"id":2588,"date":"2026-04-06T14:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/2588\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:52:16","slug":"uproar-as-berlin-requires-men-to-get-military-signoff-to-go-abroad-the-guardian-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/2588\/","title":{"rendered":"Uproar as Berlin requires men to get military signoff to go abroad | The Guardian &#8211; newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"size6 m-0 magName svelte-1tmct67\">The Guardian<\/p>\n<p> | <\/p>\n<p class=\"size6 m-0 issueName svelte-1tmct67\">April 06, 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"shortDesc svelte-1tmct67\">A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany\u2019s military service policy has caused uproar after it emerged that the law requires men aged up to 45 to get permission from the armed forces before any significant stay abroad, even in peacetime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"author svelte-1tmct67\">&#8211;\u00a0Deborah Cole<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:27px;color:#313131;\">The legislation, which went into effect on 1 January, aims to bolster the military and demands all 18-year-old men fill out a questionnaire to gauge their suitability to serve in the armed forces, but stops short of conscription.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:27px;color:#313131;\">If the \u201cmodernised\u201d model fails to pull in enough recruits, parliament will be compelled to discuss the reintroduction of compulsory service, the defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said as the legislation passed in December.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:27px;color:#313131;\">Compulsory military service was suspended in 2011 under the then chancellor, Angela Merkel.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:27px;color:#313131;\">The fine print, which went largely unnoticed until a media report called attention to it this week, says men aged 17 to 45 would have to apply for authorisation to leave Germany for more than three months.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size:17px;line-height:27px;color:#313131;\">The clause could potentially affect millions of citizens embarking on anything from a gap year or study abroad to a new job or sabbatical.<\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.magzter.com\/GB\/Guardian-News--Media\/The-Guardian\/Newspaper\/\" alt=\"cover-img\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"cover svelte-1tmct67\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1.jpg\"  alt=\"The Guardian\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/a> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"mgd__lhd__cover__logo mgd__lhd__gold svelte-1tmct67\" src=\"https:\/\/www.magzter.com\/static\/icons\/MG_Icon.svg\" alt=\"Magzter Gold Title\" loading=\"lazy\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"cnt__title svelte-1tmct67\">This story is from the April 06, 2026 edition of The Guardian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"cnt__title svelte-1tmct67\">Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.magzter.com\/magztergold\/checkout?plan=2\" id=\"subscribe-story\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SUBSCRIBE NOW <\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"cnt__ft svelte-1tmct67\">Already a subscriber? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.magzter.com\/login\/email\" class=\"signin svelte-1tmct67\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign In<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Guardian | April 06, 2026 A little-noticed clause in sweeping changes to Germany\u2019s military service policy has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2816,18,2813,2820,2811,2810,2819,2806,2814,2807,2812,2805,2818,2808,2817,2815,2809],"class_list":{"0":"post-2588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-android-magazine","9":"tag-berlin","10":"tag-best-magazine","11":"tag-digital-magazines","12":"tag-free-magazine","13":"tag-free-magazines","14":"tag-ipad-magazine","15":"tag-magazine","16":"tag-magazine-subscription","17":"tag-magazines","18":"tag-magazines-for-smartphones","19":"tag-magzter","20":"tag-online-digital-magazine","21":"tag-online-magazine","22":"tag-online-pdf-magazine","23":"tag-pdf-for-smartphones","24":"tag-pdf-magazine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}