F.A.Z. Einspruch · Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

#384: Müssen Männer sich jetzt vor Auslandsreisen bei der Bundeswehr abmelden?

·1 hr 5 min·4 clips

German men aged 17-45 may need Bundeswehr permission to leave the country for over three months, a rule that just surfaced.

1. FAZ Einspruch episode 384 airs on April 8, 2026, hosted by Fynn Hohenschwert and Frederik Orlowski in Frankfurt, covering German military law, the Hungarian election, international law on Iran, and Commercial Courts. 2. The hosts are FAZ legal journalists; their guest on the Hungary segment is Peter Techet, jurist and historian at the Institut für den Donauraum und Mitteleuropa in Vienna. 3. The episode's central thread is the question of how law functions under political pressure — whether a military travel-permit requirement survives constitutional scrutiny, whether Hungary's democracy can be restored through elections, and whether attacking civilian infrastructure in war is a war crime. 4. The episode's first segment focuses on §3 Abs.2 Satz 1 of the Wehrpflichtgesetz (Military Service Act), which has been in force since January 1, 2026, and requires men over 17 to obtain a Bundeswehr Genehmigung (permit) before leaving Germany for more than three months. 5. FAZ trainee Erik Böhm called the Bundeswehr Karriere-Center — named in the statute — and found staff surprised by the rule and uncertain how to handle it, suggesting the law is currently unenforced. 6. The provision is not new — it dates from the 1960s — but its scope has changed: it originally applied only in the Spannungsfall and Verteidigungsfall (states of tension and defense), whereas the new version applies at all times. 7. The hosts analyze the permit requirement using a standard constitutional proportionality test: the purpose (Wehrerfassung — knowing where draft-eligible men are) and suitability are unproblematic, but the Erforderlichkeit (necessity) is questionable because a simple notification (Anzeige) would achieve the same goal without requiring state approval. 8. If the permit requirement were 'scharfgestellt' (activated), lack of a permit could trigger passport refusal under §7 Abs.1 Nr.7 of the Passgesetz — a much more significant sanction than a fine, and not currently included in §45 of the Wehrpflichtgesetz. 9. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated on Wednesday morning that men can freely travel and that an administrative regulation (Verwaltungsvorschrift) would clarify this, but that regulation had not yet been published as of the broadcast. 10. The hosts note that the permit requirement conflicts with the German government's stated goal of reducing bureaucracy — potentially millions of permit applications would need individual processing. 11. On Hungary: Viktor Orbán has held power since 2010 and built what he explicitly called an 'illiberal democracy' in a 2014 speech, in which the governing party is legally protected and opposition opportunities are heavily restricted. 12. Peter Techet explains that opposition leader Péter Magyar's Tisza party has led polls by 20-25 points for over a year, but the Hungarian electoral system — dominated by rural single-member constituencies — means a popular-vote lead may not translate to a parliamentary majority. 13. Even a simple opposition majority in parliament would be blocked: Hungary's Constitutional Court, Budget Council, and other Fidesz-controlled institutions can strike down all new legislation, and the public broadcaster's budget can only be changed with a two-thirds majority. 14. Techet describes the most dangerous scenario: if the opposition wins a two-thirds majority, Fidesz's outgoing parliament retains its mandate for up to 30 days and can amend the constitution to raise the threshold for future constitutional changes to 80%, making further reform impossible. 15. Hungary's constitution has no Ewigkeitsklausel (eternity clause) unlike Germany — any provision can be changed with a two-thirds majority, which Orbán has used since 2010 to reshape the entire constitutional order. 16. EU frozen funds are a key driver of Orbán's declining popularity; Peter Magyar's main campaign promise is restoring EU financial transfers, but the EU will expect judicial independence and media freedom reforms that require a two-thirds majority to implement. 17. On Iran: Trump issued an ultimatum threatening to destroy all of Iran's bridges and power plants if the Strait of Hormuz was not opened, and posted on Truth Social that 'an entire civilization could be wiped out'; the US had already bombed Iran's largest highway bridge. 18. Ben Rhodes, former Obama deputy national security advisor, called Trump's announcement 'announcing war crimes'; a two-month ceasefire was reached just after midnight on April 8, hours before the deadline. 19. German-speaking lawyers, political scientists, and informed citizens interested in constitutional law, German military law, Central European politics, and international humanitarian law will find the episode substantively dense and analytically rigorous. 20. Non-German-speaking listeners and those seeking briefer, more accessible treatments of these topics are not the target audience.

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