On October 13, Germany’s government had to cancel at the last minute a press conference at which it planned to announce a new bill expanding military conscription. It was the result of disagreements between the two major parties in the governing coalition, the Social Democrats (SPD) and Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU). This episode reveals the fundamental fragility of Berlin’s much-touted defense renewal. The invasion of Ukraine in 2022 laid bare Europe’s strategic vulnerabilities and the...
