NEWS THAT Germany's grand coalition between Christian Democrats and Social Democrats has reached agreement on a constitutional proposal that the country's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, can be deployed domestically in support of the civilian power represents a significant milestone in its post-war history.
This is a divisive issue for the two governing parties, but mainly concerning its precise scope. They present this agreement as a normalisation of civilian-military relations. Left-wing, Green and liberal opposition parties say it represents a creeping militarisation of German society.
The proposal is heavily circumscribed, being limited to circumstances in which "police means do not suffice for protection against very serious disasters". This is understood to mean natural disasters such as floods rather than a terrorist emergency, since the more ambitious programme of possible intervention along those lines proposed by interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble was explicitly rejected by the Social Democrats. Years of debate have taken place on the issue, which remains extremely sensitive because of the black history of German militarism. But the Bundeswehr's founding mandate in 1955 was a complete rejection of that tradition, commiting it to a solely defensive role. Its present strength is 200,500 personnel, backed up by 300,000 reserves and 55,000 18-25 year olds on compulsory military service.
A similar debate took place in 1999 over extending the mandate for German troops to serve beyond its borders, and specifically in Kosovo. That was agreed, and Germans have seen distinguished service there and elsewhere in the Balkans since then, as well as other deployments in Cambodia, Lebanon and Somalia. But their most significant external engagement has been with the Nato-led force in Afghanistan. Yesterday the government agreed to extend that for another 14 months and to add 1,000 troops to the 3,500 already deployed. But their role is limited to civilian support operations in the northern part of the country. And simultaneously a number of special forces troops have been withdrawn from service after sharp controversy over their role in support of US attacks on the Taliban.
Both military roles remain controversial - a tribute to Germany's active debate on the subject. Its next stage may concern whether compulsory service has outlived its usefulness, given that most young people try to avoid it and military modernisation makes it an increasingly outmoded means of recruitment.