Defence Committee | Ministry’s comprehensive proposal for regulation of staff matters within 15 days

Defence Redefined

05/03/2021

Yesterday, Thursday March 4th, in the presence of the Minister of Defence, Charalambos Petridis, and the Chief of the National Guard General Staff, Lieutenant General Demokritos Zervakis, the Parliamentary Committee of Defence met to discuss a number of National Guard staff matters. 

DEFENCE ReDEFiNED contacted the Democratic MP and member of the Defence Committee to inform us about the discussions and decisions taken to improve staff working conditions.  

According to Mr. Mylonas, each MP and each party raised various issues ranging from the problems regarding NCOs and Professional Soldiers (SYOP) to the problems regarding the reserves and – more generally – a huge range of issues concerning the staff. 

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As the DIKO MP told us and as is well known, the National Guard does not have a trade union for its staff. As he explained to us, he placed great emphasis on the morale of the Officers and NCOs and in general of all the staff in matters concerning salaries, ranks and shifts, in order to improve the working conditions of the staff but also their morale. 

The MPs asked the Ministry of Defence to submit a comprehensive proposal within 15 days that includes all these issues. The Defence Committee, according to Mr. Mylonas, is willing to approve additional funds that will concern the staff. 

Besides, in yesterday’s statements, the president of the Defence Committee, Marinos Sizopoulos, stated that issues related to the recognition of the three-year study of students in the Hellenic Military Academies for non-commissioned officers and the way in which the Ministry of Defence and the National Guard General Staff will approach this issue were discussed. Likewise, issues related to the recruitment of additional Professional Soldiers and their employment regulations were also raised.

Also read: Ministry of Defence | Invitation of Professional Soldiers (SYOP) candidates to the Sports and Military tests

Asked whether the solution of the problems discussed needs to be regulated, Mr. Sizopoulos said that several of these issues require legislative regulation. Therefore, on its part, the Defence Committee expects the Ministry of Defense to submit specific bills or amendments to existing regulations and to proceed with their immediate review, so that the required legislation passes as soon as possible and is, in turn, implemented.

The President of the Defence Committee also pointed out that what is important and has been emphasized many times so far, is that the members of the Committee are willing to discuss and resolve these issues immediately and quickly. However, they wish to avoid repeating what was observed in the past, that is, the submission of such regulations on the last day of the Parliament’s operation, which forces the Parliament to discuss and vote on such serious regulations in a very limited time.

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