BRATISLAVA, December 14, (WEBNOVINY) — Slovak President and Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces Ivan Gasparovic met the Minister of Defense, Lubomir Galko (SaS), on Tuesday. “We talked very openly on the persisting imbalance between ambitions, needs of the department, and the resources allocated,” said Galko at a briefing after the meeting. Absence of a conceptual plan for the armed forces is among the problems that he inherited from the former Minister Jaroslav Baska (SMER-SD). “We are just trying to change this through launching a strategic assessment of defense. The output will be a so-called White Paper on Defense,” Galko added. This document should determine which competencies the department can take care of by itself, which competencies it should get rid of and which in the future will be provided in cooperation with partners from NATO. “We need to say that we are ready for radical solutions,” said Galko on the assessment. Its results should be known in mid-2011. “Then in 2012 and 2013, we would like to carry out systemic changes within the armed forces,” he said.
The minister informed the President that Slovak presence in missions abroad, ISAF in Afghanistan and ALTEA in Bosnia and Herzegovina, remains a priority. “What is not secret is and will stay public,” said Galko on the new transparency policy. The department will also focus on financial efficiency, so that not a single euro is wasted.
The 2011 defense budget is 770 million euro, which, according to the president, is less than last year. Gasparovic believes that the budget will increase in 2012, as he is convinced that this budget will show us the extent to which the army might be stripped of its equipment and compatibility with other NATO armed forces. The president also appreciates that the new representatives of the MoD decided help people struck by floods right after they entered their posts.
SITA