Germany's Merkel rejects call to reintroduce conscription
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Chancellor Angela Merkel is rejecting calls for the reintroduction of military conscription in response to an investigation of an alleged far-right plot by two soldiers to assassinate prominent political figures.
Merkel's government ended conscription in 2011. A prominent lawmaker in the chancellor's conservative party, Patrick Sensburg, has argued that conscription should be introduced because citizens in uniform are "a reliable early-warning system to recognize extremism of the left and right."
Merkel said Thursday Germany made a fundamental decision on conscription, "and we should conduct necessary reforms in continuity with this decision." She added that "what the Bundeswehr needs is predictability."
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Prosecutors believe the soldiers planned to blame their attack on refugees. One of the soldiers allegedly passed himself off as a Syrian refugee while also serving with the Bundeswehr.