THE CENTRAL European Policy Institute (CEPI) unveiled a set of recommendations for the Slovak defence sector on Monday, including items such as the update to Slovakia’s security and defence strategy and the enshrining of a level of funding for the sector in the Constitution, TASR reported on October 13.
CEPI’s Jaroslav Naď said that the publication, which is called 75 Solutions for Slovak Defence, comes in response to the most topical problems plaguing the sector. The proposals provide a foundation that could result in the launching of a public discussion.
“We’ve come up with concrete proposals that could help,” said Naď, as quoted by TASR. “We hope and believe that some political parties as well as central administration authorities will adopt some of the solutions so that the system gets some help,” he added.
According to CEPI’s analysts, one of the core measures is a general political agreement on basic defence tasks, which could then translate into a constitutional law. Slovakia could follow the example of Poland, which has stipulated in its Constitution that the defence sector should receive funding worth 2 percent of the country’s GDP.
It is high time that new security and defence strategies were drawn up, as the latest such documents go back to 2005. The current security strategy includes, for one, “that Ukraine’s NATO membership is a priority for Slovakia, and questions arise as to whether this is still the case”, said the Senior Fellow for Security and Defence of CEPI Marian Majer, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
The analysts also suggest that changes be made in the training of soldiers, the creation of reservists and increased vigilance concerning military intelligence. CEPI is set to send the document to ministers, the Government Office and President Andrej Kiska, the commander-in-chief of the Slovak military, according to TASR.
(Source: TASR, SITA)
Compiled by Roman Cuprik from press reports
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