٠٠:٠٣:٥٥German Bundestag Defence Commissioner Eva Hogl admitted that the country's armed forces still had 'too little of everything', were 'shrinking and ageing', and soldiers remained worried about 'secure communications' following a bombshell audio leak - while delivering her annual report in Berlin on Tuesday.
"On the subject of support for Ukraine, the Bundeswehr has been doing an outstanding job for two years, because the donations of material mean that the Bundeswehr itself has even less, it has too little of everything anyway and it has been doing so for two years since, it has been giving it away, which means even less of the urgently needed material," she said.
Parliament is nearly two years into a 'special fund' project to overhaul the military. Hogl described the training of Ukrainian forces as an 'enormous achievement' but said that it all meant 'we still have not reached our goal' regarding modernising Germany's own army.
"Our Bundeswehr is able to guarantee alliance and national defence together with our partners, there is no question about it at all, but I already said that we have not yet reached our goal, we do not yet have fully operational armed forces, the Bundeswehr needs more, it needs more staff, and also more material and better infrastructure," she said.
Hogl added that there was 'enormous need for action' to make the forces 'fit for war'.
"Over 20,000 positions are still being filled, that's 17.6 percent, that's a lot, I've already said it, the Bundeswehr is aging and shrinking," she continued. "We had the same number of applications and the same number of recruitments as in 2022, that's too little, it urgently needs growth when it comes to personnel and this means that there were fewer soldiers in 2023 than in the previous year."
Following the row over the leak of German military audio in recent weeks - which featured officers discussing the potential use of Taurus missiles in Ukraine, something Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly ruled out - Hogl said that 'espionage, secure communication' was also at the forefront of soldiers' concerns.
"When I visit all my troops, the topic of espionage, secure communication, always coupled with the requirement to have the appropriate technology, is a subject of discussion. I often find that in the discussion groups, especially in areas that have to do with sensitive topics, that the soldiers are very concerned," she said.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius claimed that the country's military communications were 'not compromised' during the breach because the issue came from user error. Scholz called it a 'very serious' security issue, while Deputy Head of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev claimed it proved Germany was 'preparing for war against Russia'.
'Too little of everything' - Armed forces commissioner admits military 'shrinking and ageing' with troops worried about 'secure comms'
German Bundestag Defence Commissioner Eva Hogl admitted that the country's armed forces still had 'too little of everything', were 'shrinking and ageing', and soldiers remained worried about 'secure communications' following a bombshell audio leak - while delivering her annual report in Berlin on Tuesday.
"On the subject of support for Ukraine, the Bundeswehr has been doing an outstanding job for two years, because the donations of material mean that the Bundeswehr itself has even less, it has too little of everything anyway and it has been doing so for two years since, it has been giving it away, which means even less of the urgently needed material," she said.
Parliament is nearly two years into a 'special fund' project to overhaul the military. Hogl described the training of Ukrainian forces as an 'enormous achievement' but said that it all meant 'we still have not reached our goal' regarding modernising Germany's own army.
"Our Bundeswehr is able to guarantee alliance and national defence together with our partners, there is no question about it at all, but I already said that we have not yet reached our goal, we do not yet have fully operational armed forces, the Bundeswehr needs more, it needs more staff, and also more material and better infrastructure," she said.
Hogl added that there was 'enormous need for action' to make the forces 'fit for war'.
"Over 20,000 positions are still being filled, that's 17.6 percent, that's a lot, I've already said it, the Bundeswehr is aging and shrinking," she continued. "We had the same number of applications and the same number of recruitments as in 2022, that's too little, it urgently needs growth when it comes to personnel and this means that there were fewer soldiers in 2023 than in the previous year."
Following the row over the leak of German military audio in recent weeks - which featured officers discussing the potential use of Taurus missiles in Ukraine, something Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly ruled out - Hogl said that 'espionage, secure communication' was also at the forefront of soldiers' concerns.
"When I visit all my troops, the topic of espionage, secure communication, always coupled with the requirement to have the appropriate technology, is a subject of discussion. I often find that in the discussion groups, especially in areas that have to do with sensitive topics, that the soldiers are very concerned," she said.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius claimed that the country's military communications were 'not compromised' during the breach because the issue came from user error. Scholz called it a 'very serious' security issue, while Deputy Head of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev claimed it proved Germany was 'preparing for war against Russia'.
German Bundestag Defence Commissioner Eva Hogl admitted that the country's armed forces still had 'too little of everything', were 'shrinking and ageing', and soldiers remained worried about 'secure communications' following a bombshell audio leak - while delivering her annual report in Berlin on Tuesday.
"On the subject of support for Ukraine, the Bundeswehr has been doing an outstanding job for two years, because the donations of material mean that the Bundeswehr itself has even less, it has too little of everything anyway and it has been doing so for two years since, it has been giving it away, which means even less of the urgently needed material," she said.
Parliament is nearly two years into a 'special fund' project to overhaul the military. Hogl described the training of Ukrainian forces as an 'enormous achievement' but said that it all meant 'we still have not reached our goal' regarding modernising Germany's own army.
"Our Bundeswehr is able to guarantee alliance and national defence together with our partners, there is no question about it at all, but I already said that we have not yet reached our goal, we do not yet have fully operational armed forces, the Bundeswehr needs more, it needs more staff, and also more material and better infrastructure," she said.
Hogl added that there was 'enormous need for action' to make the forces 'fit for war'.
"Over 20,000 positions are still being filled, that's 17.6 percent, that's a lot, I've already said it, the Bundeswehr is aging and shrinking," she continued. "We had the same number of applications and the same number of recruitments as in 2022, that's too little, it urgently needs growth when it comes to personnel and this means that there were fewer soldiers in 2023 than in the previous year."
Following the row over the leak of German military audio in recent weeks - which featured officers discussing the potential use of Taurus missiles in Ukraine, something Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly ruled out - Hogl said that 'espionage, secure communication' was also at the forefront of soldiers' concerns.
"When I visit all my troops, the topic of espionage, secure communication, always coupled with the requirement to have the appropriate technology, is a subject of discussion. I often find that in the discussion groups, especially in areas that have to do with sensitive topics, that the soldiers are very concerned," she said.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius claimed that the country's military communications were 'not compromised' during the breach because the issue came from user error. Scholz called it a 'very serious' security issue, while Deputy Head of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev claimed it proved Germany was 'preparing for war against Russia'.