The Cabinet’s decision on the exceptional military service deferral of the soldiers of 2020 B’ Class who secured a place in British universities was discussed today by the Parliamentary Defence Committee in the presence of the Minister of Defence, Charalambos Petridis, and the Chief of the National Guard, Lt. Gen. Dimokritos Zervakis.

Following the meeting of the Committee, neither the Chairman of the latter, Marinos Sizopoulos, nor the Minister of Defence made any statements on the matter.

Democratic Party MP Pavlos Mylonas stated that the Defence Committee was informed by the Minister and the Chief of the National Guard about the developments in terms of the grant of a temporary military service deferral of some soldiers who want to study in the UK.

“The Government once again showed negligence, lack of planning and organization so we call on the Government to take initiatives to solve the problem,” he said and added that the Democratic Party submitted feasible and realistic proposals.

These proposals, he noted, solve the problem without victimizing anyone and without creating a sense of injustice among the people, the students who are currently serving and want to go to the UK to study and especially the military staff serving their homeland.

In a statement, the MP of Allileggii, George Papadopoulos, stated that:

“A few days ago, to our great surprise, the Cabinet decided to grant a deferral to hundreds of hoplites in order – as was announced – to benefit from the reduced tuition fees in the universities of England, while everyone knows – let alone the state itself – that the National Guard law does not grant deferral to anyone except in certain exceptional cases.

We were also informed that the Cabinet will send an Additional Budget to the Parliament for the recruitment of an additional number of Professional Soldiers to fill the gap of the conscripts who are granted temporary deferral. I must mention that such a deferral has been granted for years to those who studied at the Cooking and Nursing School – about 40 people – and the reason is to cover the needs of the Army.

When we talk about 200-300 soldiers, I personally know, without belonging to the military staff, that it corresponds to the soldiers of at least 5-6 Units.

The problem that was created by those who would study in England was known to everyone, Brexit had been completed a long time ago! So, the choice of those who decided to study at universities in England was their own responsibility, with the known consequences.

The government had to solve this problem much earlier, with an agreement with the British Universities, so that we would not come up with a solution that would result in the weakening of the National Guard.

And the question is: Are there no other talented children who will serve the homeland at a personal cost? Aren’t there children from poor families who have won scholarships in various universities which they lose every year so as to serve their homeland?

I wonder what and how we will answer to these children. Should we tell them that the DISY Spokesperson is absolutely right, that is, that the term in the National Guard is a waste of time? Is it a solution to hire the corresponding number of hoplites to those who will be deferred by the National Guard? Doing so, don’t they lead other conscripts to go after a deferral too?”

Sοurce: CNA