Germany in Brief

Court Backs Male-Only Draft in Germany
Germany may continue to only draft men, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled on Tuesday. The justices determined that the draft is a question of national security for which European laws cannot apply to such issues as abolishment of the draft or of the conscription of women. The case was brought by Alexander Dory, now 20. In 1999, Dory asked a Stuttgart court to free him from military service because he said the male-only draft violated European law. The court in Stuttgart passed the matter to the European Court of Justice.
In Luxembourg, Dory argued his case by referring to a ground-breaking ruling issued by the European Court of Justice in 2000 -- the ruling that ordered Germany to lift its ban on the assignment of women to combat units. Until then, female soldiers were allowed to serve only in medical and musical jobs. Dory argued that since 2000, male draftees were facing discrimination because women are not subject to conscription. German draftees serve for nine months. Many European states, among them France and Great Britain, have abolished conscription in favor of a professional army.

German Children Don't Exercise Enough
Children and teenagers in Germany don't exercise enough, officials said on Tuesday in Berlin. In the last two years, the fitness level of German youths dropped by 20 percent, according to a long-term study. The results showed that the group of 6- to 18-year-olds spent too much time in front of computers and television. School sports are also an important factor in children's fitness, the study said. Children who have at least three hours of school sports activity per week performed better in exercises than those who had two hours or less. The study was conducted by a leading German health insurance company, a doctors' group and a German sports association.

German Households Save Less Money
German citizens increased their rate of consumption and decreased their rate of saving in the last 11 years, the Federal Statistical Office said on Tuesday. Consumer spending by private households rose by 44 percent between 1991 and 2002. At the same time, the savings rate sank from 13 percent to 10.4 percent of available income. Last year, private households spent €1.2 trillion ($1.3 trillion). That amounts to €14,500 per person. In the same 11-year period, the cost of housing continued to rise, from around 20 percent of total spending in 1991 to nearly 25 percent in 2002. The amount spent on food, drink and tobacco dropped from 18 percent to 16 percent.

Soldiers' Complaints on the Rise
The number of official complaints filed by service members and employees of the German military reached a record level last year. Willfried Penner (photo), the defense commissioner of the German parliament, said on Tuesday that he received nearly 6,500 complaints in 2002. This is a third more than in 2001 and the highest quota since the first commissioner was appointed in 1959. Penner's annual report shows that the highest rise of complaints is related to international deployments. Compared with 2001, the number of complaints about such missions rose 100 percent to 1,150. One of the most frequent complaints is the length of the international missions, which usually last six months. Most soldiers said they would prefer deployments of three to four months even if that would mean increasing the frequency of their assignments abroad.

Frankfurt Airport to Test New Security Measures
Officials at Frankfurt International Airport are planning to test a system that recognizes travelers by their irises and not the pictures in their passports. The system could be helpful for frequent travelers who could register their eye data with the Federal Border Guard and then pass security controls a lot quicker, a border guard spokesman said on Tuesday. The test will start sometime later this year and run for six months at Germany's biggest airport.