A PLAN to reduce compulsory army service from 25 to 19 months has been rejected by the Council of Ministers
The proposal was axed on the basis that the timing is not right for such a scheme, while the Defence Ministry blamed the stance taken by the majority of the parties for the proposal’s failure.
“Due to the stance taken by the majority of the political parties it is very difficult for the Ministry to move forward, because we do not wish to do something with which the political scene disagrees,” said Costas Papacostas.
The proposal provided that conscription service is reduced gradually to 19 months, on the condition that each year there are two waves of conscripts; 18-year-old high-school graduates should start their military service in July, while those who are not 18 by July will wait until January to enter the National Guard. The majority of political parties disagreed with this double-conscription proposal, arguing that the system would cause social problems.
Papacostas confirmed that the issue will be re-introduced in the future, but because the timelines have not been followed, the reduction in service cannot take place in 2009 as was initially proposed.
“The dialogue will continue until we find a commonly acceptable solution,” he said.
“The issue of defence reform, which includes the reduction of service for conscripts, is on the discussion table and the government will decide at some point what should be done with the proposal of reforming the National Guard,” government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday.
The decision by the Council of Ministers to reject the proposal was reportedly based on the view that the timing was not right because of the continued disagreement of opposition parties. Responding to the decision, DISY Defence Commissioner Socrates Hasikos commented that such a proposal could have been adopted by the government without the agreement of other parties.
“If the government moved without a dialogue with the parties and without considering the views of certain parties on National Guard reform – because that’s what we are talking about and not just reduced compulsory service – what would these parties say? That the government is obviously trying to ignore the parties on such a serious matter,” Stefanou said.
The related proposal for the reform of the National Guard has also been halted for the time being. Although the two proposals are considered separate, Defence Ministry believes that they complement each other and should be introduced simultaneously.
“The National Guard reform and the reduction of national guard service are separate issues but are connected, because the re-organisation will not be possible without the reduced service. Unfortunately, the majority of political parties disagree both with the reform and with the reduction in service,” Papacostas explained.
Meanwhile, sources claim that financial considerations are behind the decision to reject the reduced service proposals. Specifically, a provision in the proposal relating to the provision of financial support for university education for the January wave of conscripts has reportedly elicited a negative response from the Finance Ministry.
