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February 9, 2012
Conservatives suggest mandatory public service for young adults
Published: 26 Aug 10 12:06 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20100826-29409.html
As Germany debates major military reforms that will likely put an end to conscription – and thus the alternative public service – conservative politicians are suggesting a new compulsory service programme for young adults.
But the prospect has worried German charity organisations, which fear they will not be able to make up for the loss of the free labour by some 90,000 Zivis, as the volunteers are known. Many of the Zivis work as caretakers in nursing homes and other social facilities.
Saarland state premier and member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) Peter Müller spoke in favour of mandatory community service for both men and women on Thursday.
In an interview with daily Rheinische Post he said he had questioned “whether we should legally establish the societal responsibility of a citizen.”
“It is not legitimate to require young people to make themselves available to the community for a limited time period?” he asked.
Outgoing Hessian state premier Roland Koch also suggested such a programme, but only for young men.
“The society will be poorer if young people are spared any kind of challenge to do something for their community,” he told daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, calling it an “issue of upbringing.”
Meanwhile Family Minister Kristina Schröder, also a CDU member, has suggested a government-supported volunteer programme for 35,000 young people starting at age 16. Their service would last between six months to a year.
DPA/The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
Making Zivildienst mandatory for every citizen, though, would make the health and social sector even more dependent on cheap government-subsidized labor (Zivildienst is paid for by the German government which reimburses an employer for what they pay a Zivieldienstleistender). While at the same time forcing out trained and skilled staff with years of work experience who won't be able to compete against such "Lohndumping". Monthly wages in the health sector have already been decreasing for a number of years, and it would put even more pressure on those employees.
I propose, that as a country, we stop acting like a bunch of nihilistic, quasi-existentialist bohemians, and start caring about the fate of our country, as well as that of the world, again. I say we become more competitive in manufacturing and intellectual labor, rebuild the armored forces, and enforce a hegemony of peace in the Balkans like we *should* have been doing since the Ottomans withdrew, instead of using it as a political balance beam with Russia. On that note, I say we check Russia's economic expansionism into the former eastern bloc, by reinvesting in nuclear power and exporting it for pennies, so that the Ukraine, for example, is not dependent on Gazprom. I say we raise the education standards of our youth, and try to instill some fragment of a sense of civic responsibility in the average German again.
How about that?
When have politicians really cared about the youth vote?