Germany Adopts First-Ever Military Strategy: 'Responsibility for Europe'

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius unveiled Germany's first-ever formally adopted military strategy on April 22, titled 'Responsibility for Europe' — the most explicit statement of German military ambition since the founding of the Bundeswehr in 1955. The strategy names Russia as Germany's primary military threat and sets the goal of making the Bundeswehr Europe's strongest conventional army, with expansion from 185,000 to 260,000 personnel and reserve forces growing from 60,000 to 200,000. The EMA26 reform program includes 153 concrete measures and 580 implementation steps. Backed by the constitutional €500B Sondervermögen fund (March 2025), it operationalizes Merz's declaration that 'it is five minutes to midnight for Europe' — representing Germany's most consequential defense doctrine shift in the postwar era.