Akhir 19, 1432 H/March 24, 2011, SPA -- Germany's parliament on Thursday finalized the abolition of military conscription, according to dpa. The move suspends the draft effective July 1, 55 years after it was introduced at the height of the Cold War. The last intake of young males are already halfway through their six months of training. The three armed forces will in future comprise a mix of long-service professionals and short-service volunteers on stints of 12 to 23 months. The opposition Greens voted in favour of the government bill in the Bundestag in Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian counterparts, the Christian Social Union (CSU), were initially hostile to giving up the draft, which they viewed as beneficial to society.
