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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Smaller 2009 military budget will not affect defence capacity

Belgrade, 29 December 2008

Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic stated that a smaller military budget for 2009 will not affect the country’s defence capacity, adding that the introduction of a professional army will be completed, despite its current slow pace.

File photo of Mirko Cvetkovic

Author: Tanjug

In an interview for the magazine Odbrana, Cvetkovic said that the Ministry of Defence is not the only one that has to bear the burden of the crisis and operate with fewer funds from the 2009 budget than first projected.

He noted that savings and rationalisation can help compensate these funds in the budget.

He stressed there has been improvement in the living standard of army members, the best proof being the 30% salary increase in the army, which is the largest salary rise in the entire state apparatus.

This year RSD 250 million has been provided in subsidies for military housing loans, which helped procure 163 flats for professional soldiers, said Cvetkovic, adding that the plan is to keep solving the housing issue in a similar way next year, for which purpose RSD 150 million has been earmarked.

The Prime Minister said that the Ministry of Defence and the government’s legal services think that all wages to war veterans have been paid and invited all those who have doubts on that issue to refer to the court.

In any case, they cannot expect to be compensated next year because there is simply not enough money in the budget. If reservists keep protesting, blocking the roads and disturbing the peace, the state will have to act within its legal rights and stop that, he noted.

He also said Serbia expects EULEX and the UN to establish peace in Kosovo-Metohija and provide full protection to citizens, especially Serbs, as they are the most endangered population there.

According to him, ensuring safety and re-establishing democracy in the province will be EULEX’s key challenges.

We also expect EULEX to return usurped property to their rightful owners, said the Prime Minister, adding that thanks to its active diplomacy, principled stances and strong arguments, Serbia has managed to have its six items adopted prior to EULEX’s deployment to Kosovo.

It was extremely important that the EULEX mission is subject to Resolution 1244, confirmed by the UN Security Council and is status-neutral, as well as that it does not implement the Ahtisaari plan, but we managed to achieve all that, said Cvetkovic.

According to him, Serbia’s role in solving burning issues in the province has improved after that, its strategic course in the preservation of Kosovo has been maintained and the process of recognising the illegally proclaimed Kosovo independence has been stopped.

Cvetkovic said that regardless of the differing stances of top officials in the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Army, the system is fully functional and the country’s defence has in no way been compromised.