Reduced draft for third-born sons?

THIRD-born sons could be serving half the army service of their elder brothers, if a proposal is approved by the House Defence Committee and Plenum.

The matter was suggested for discussion by the Committee Chairman, Yiannakis Omirou of EDEK, while a related bill was submitted by DISY deputy Soteris Sampson.

Talking after the meeting, Omirou said that such a measure would offer relief to families with three sons and offer an incentive to families to have more children.

He added that the Committee had requested an official governmental response from Defence Minister Nicos Symeonides.

The President of the Association for Large Families, Paraskevas Samaras, added that reducing the third son’s service from 25 months to 14 would contribute to the reduction of exemptions from the draft for psychological reasons and would reduce the burden suffered by families who send three sons to the army.

According to Samaras, the Defence Ministry and Legal Services objected to the alteration, but he added that he hoped the bill would be correctly assessed and decisions made to the benefit of Cyprus and its National Guard.

Sampson claimed his bill would not only be positive in a demographic way – encouraging more births – but it would also help in eradicating unjustifiable exemptions.

The matter will be discussed on Monday between Minister Symeonides and the Association for Large Families.

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