German Armed Forces sends out more than 40,000 military service letters in recruitment bid, AfD’s new youth wing found to ‘maintain extremist links’, winter weather causes disruption and more news on Wednesday, February 4th.
Wednesday’s top story: Germany’s Bundeswehr sends out more than 40,000 letters to young people
The German Armed Forces has sent out more than 40,000 letters to 18-year-olds asking them to fill out a digital questionnaire as part of a recruitment drive.
The initiative, which aims to assess the suitability and motivation of young people for military service, began at the start of the year, and marks a significant departure in how Germany engages with its future recruits.
Choosing whether or not to serve remains voluntary, but completing the questionnaire is mandatory for all 18-year-old German men.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told German broadcaster ntv that the campaign was going well so far, adding “We’ve already received many questionnaires back”.
READ ALSO: Everything you need to know about Germany’s new military service letters
This year, the armed forces estimate they will send questionnaires to around 650,000 young people.
It comes after a positive year of recruitment. In 2025, the Bundeswehr recruited 25,000 new soldiers. “That is an increase of 23 percent over the previous year and the best recruitment result in 12 years, a real trend reversal,” Pistorius said.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius gives a speech as he visits the Innovation Center of the German Armed Forces Bundeswehr in Erding, Bavaria, southern Germany on February 2, 2026. (Photo by Michaela Stache / AFP)
Snow and ice sparks disruption in parts of Germany
Parts of Germany have been experiencing severe winter weather in recent weeks, with temperatures dropping as low as -10C in Berlin.
This week, fresh snowfall and icy conditions have led to road accidents, school closures and other disruption.
A severe weather warning issued by the German Weather Service (DWD) remains in force for Lower Saxony. Police said several accidents had been reported on the A1 Autobahn in the north-west, with injuries recorded.
The DWD said freezing rain is expected in south-western Lower Saxony, alongside the risk of snowfall.
Snow is also forecast in Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania later in the day, while people in Berlin woke up to fresh snow on Wednesday.
Schools in Bremen and parts of Lower Saxony are closed on Wednesday.
READ ALSO: Wintry weather hangs over Germany as more ice warnings issued
German government says AfD’s new youth wing maintains extremist links
The new youth wing of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has clear “continuity” with its defunct predecessor, which was classified as right-wing extremist, the interior ministry said Tuesday.
The AfD last March disbanded its previous youth organisation the Young Alternative (JA) and in November founded its successor body, called Generation Germany (GD).
Speeches at the GD founding conference reflected hostility against the “free democratic order” and a racial and ethnocentric “understanding of the nation”, the ministry said in a reply to an inquiry from a Greens party MP obtained by AFP.
“There are known links between members of Generation Germany and other extremist organisations,” the ministry said in the response.
The BfV domestic intelligence agency had classified the JA as a confirmed right-wing extremist organisation in 2023.
The replacement group, Generation Germany, claims to have over 2,100 members.
The ministry declined to provide further details about the alleged extremist links, citing the need to protect potential and ongoing investigations.
READ ALSO: German far right founds new youth wing in face of protests
Germany lags behind Europe in protection against sexual harassment
A Europe-wide survey by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency reveals that Germany offers significantly less protection against sexual harassment than many other European countries.
While 18 nations participating in the study expressly prohibit sexual harassment in both civil and labour law, Germany restricts its ban to the workplace.
Other countries extend legal safeguards to sectors such as healthcare, housing and education, and have criminalised verbal harassment alongside physical offences.
Germany ranks last among surveyed nations, leaving victims with limited recourse outside employment settings. The report also highlights that landlords or driving instructors who verbally harass individuals face little legal consequence unless physical assault occurs.
Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Ferda Ataman has called for reforms to the General Equal Treatment Act, urging broader protection in areas like housing and gyms.
READ ALSO: Progress slowing on gender pay gap in Germany
Germany has highest share of older workers in EU
Germany has the highest proportion of older workers of any European Union country, official data showed Tuesday, with almost a quarter of those in employment aged between 55 and 64.
Roughly 9.8 million people – around 24 percent – of the 40.9 million people in work in Europe’s biggest economy were in this age bracket in 2024, according to statistics agency Destatis.
This compared to an EU average of around one fifth.
More and more people are working beyond the age of 67 in Germany. Photo: picture alliance / dpa / Jan Woitas
“A key reason for the high proportion of older workers in Germany is that the population is increasingly ageing,” said Destatis in a statement.
The agency also noted that people were retiring later in Germany, which has a population of almost 84 million, as the statutory retirement age rises gradually to 67 by 2029.
The average retirement age for women and men was 64.7 years in 2024, compared to 63 for women and 63.1 for men in 2004, it said.
In 2024, Italy had the second-highest proportion of workers in the 55- to 64-year-old age bracket in the EU after Germany, at 23 percent, according to Destatis, citing European data.
Malta by contrast had the lowest proportion of older workers in the workforce, at around 11 percent, it said.
Two arrested for attempted sabotage of German navy ships
Two suspects were arrested on Tuesday for attempting to sabotage German naval vessels last year in a dock in the northern port of Hamburg, prosecutors said.
A 37-year-old Romanian and a 54-year-old Greek citizen were arrested in Hamburg and in a Greek village respectively “on suspicion of attempted sabotage of a defence vessel”, prosecutors said in a statement.
The men, who worked at the port at the time, are accused of putting more than 20 kilogrammes (about 40 pounds) of grit into a ship’s engine block, puncturing water supply lines, removing caps from fuel tanks and deactivating electronic safety switches.
The attempted sabotage of the corvettes was discovered in time to avoid any further damage.
Germany acquires power grid stake from Dutch operator
The German government said Tuesday that it had acquired a stake in the local subsidiary of Dutch power grid operator TenneT, a strategic investment by Berlin in critical energy infrastructure.
The €3.3 billion acquisition of a 25.1 percent stake in the publicly owned Dutch group will help secure extra financing for much-needed upgrades of the grid in Europe’s biggest economy.
TenneT is a major network operator in Germany, with 14,000 kilometres (8,700 miles) of high-voltage lines stretching between the southern state of Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein in the north.
Public lender KfW, acting for the German state, signed the deal with TenneT.
“Achieving our goals in energy policy depends on an expansion of the electricity grid according to demand,” German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said in a statement.
With reporting by AFP and Tom Pugh.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
