"With the Zeitenwende, Germany becomes a grown up country in terms of security policy," Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said as he presented the guidelines, the first since 2011 when Berlin suspended conscription. He called the document Berlin's response to a new reality as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had brought back war to Europe and raised the level of threat, thereby fundamentally changing the role of Germany and the Bundeswehr.

"As the most populous and an economically strong country at the heart of Europe, Germany must be the backbone of deterrence and collective defence in Europe," Pistorius said. German forces needed to be refocused on their core mission - the credible defence of Germany and its allies - and be "ready to fight a war", he said. Just like Germany, as a frontline country in the Cold War, had benefited from the deployment of allied troops, Germany's partners now expected Berlin to live up to its responsibility and exercise leadership, Pistorius wrote in an editorial for the daily Tagesspiegel.