German Defense Minister Pistorius wants to increase size of armed forces

The German armed forces have been having difficulties attracting enough recruits.

Transcript

00:00Germany wants to increase the size of its armed forces up to 230,000 from the current

00:07target of 203,000.

00:11German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced the ambitious plan as he answered questions

00:16in the Bundestag.

00:19Germany currently has 180,000 active personnel, approximately 20,000 short of its current

00:25target.

00:28The German armed forces have been struggling to recruit people for years.

00:33The targets Pistorius wants to set will further complicate an already difficult objective.

00:40Pistorius says the plan to increase the number of permanent staff is to meet NATO's capability

00:45targets.

00:48NATO demanded its members to increase their defense capacities to boost the alliance's

00:52following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.