26.12.2019.
Minister Vulin: New Law on Armed Forces to take effect next year
- The Serbian Armed Forces serves only the Serbian people and no one else. It is not an army led and regulated by foreigners. It is a free army of a free country, commanded by no one but Serbia and the Serbian people – defence minister Aleksandar Vulin said at the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia during the debate on amendments to the most important strategic documents in the field of defence.
Minister Vulin advocates for rewriting the Law on the Armed Forces next year. “Not amendments and supplements, but to rewrite it, from the first to the last article. Because by adopting these important strategic documents, we will finally have all the conditions to know in which direction we should lead the army, and even how the army should look like. And neutrality, criticized or not, gives us the opportunity and the right, in accordance with our documents, to decide for ourselves what kind of army we want to make, minister Vulin said.
- When we say neutrality, it means that we do not have to be interoperable with anyone else, but only with ourselves, what is provided to us by our commitment to neutrality. So far we have had to adjust to some other procedures, now we do not have to. We are making procedures for ourselves, to suit us. And this should result in the law that will be written from the first to the last article, minister Vulin stressed.
The minister of defence added that this leads to the organisation of the Serbian Armed Forces that, in his opinion, should be changed. “One of the reasons why we brought back the 63rd and 72nd to the brigade rank is not because all of a sudden 500 more parachutists have been created and they can become that, but rather, it is necessary to provide space for those brigades to be manned and space to receive new tactical tasks, and they will receive them in accordance with this strategy”, the minister of defence said, adding that it was especially important for the morale of the people, to see that those who defended their country were appreciated and not forgotten.
He asked why Americans did not give up their 101st Airborne, or the Russians, their Guards Brigade. “Americans still have cavalry names, and not just them; the UK, too. And they do not have horses, they have tanks. Simply enough, you maintain your tradition, so we did that, too, and with the new formation, we made it possible for more formation posts on a different schedule, that people belonging to special units can stay in that unit from the beginning to the end of their careers because they are infinitely attached to it”, the minister of defence said.
He found out that the military needed a Department for Morale, and that was why it was brought back. “When these so-called reforms were made, after the year 2000, we had various foreign consultants, and one of them, when he abolished the Department for Morale, said we did not need it. Then our officers asked: how come we do not need it? The Serbian military has always had it. They explained - your morale promotes such values that are offensive to your neighbours. We need a Department for Morale, and all armies have some sort of morale authority. The Russian army has now introduced an assistant minister of defence for morale, who deals only with this”, Minister Vulin said, recalling that morale is a set of values that make up an army.
The Serbian Armed Forces is neither some sort of an alienated entity, nor a group of mercenaries that you can send anywhere you want to do whatever they want. The Serbian army is part of the people, and it preserves the values that have made our people great.
Minister Vulin also emphasized that he was pleased that the MPs noticed that the Serbian army was stronger, better than before, and that it was being modernised and that it is taken more care of including its traditions.
