10-year military strategy formed

Now in the final stages of unveiling the country's defense and security strategy for the next 10 years, the Defense Ministry is warning that strained budgets and difficulties in staffing the military will likely hurt the effectiveness of the Army and keep the armed forces from performing at full capacity.

"It's not a happy read, but we need to name things as they are," Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra told a group of 50 military commanders at a conference in late April where officials unveiled more details about the so-called White Paper, which is set to be implemented in 2012.

The paper envisions a military comprising 26,200 soldiers, which will be a difficult number to meet, Vondra said, as currently there are only 22,000 soldiers serving, while the military's debt has reached between 80 billion and 90 billion Kč.

"Currently, we cannot say what Army operations could be threatened or disrupted," said Jiří Caletka, a ministry spokesman. "We can't predict yet if there will be limited deployments or a reduction of involvement in international alliances."

The military simultaneously faces the challenge of dealing with a leaner budget and coming up with ways to attract recruits. As a result of budget cuts, soldiers' pay was reduced 5 percent last year, while housing allowances were slashed 36 percent.

"Soldiers have lived in an unstable and uncertain Army environment for many years due to ... ever-changing reforms," said Petr Lužný, a former military officer and the chairman of the Czech Officers and Warrant Officers Union. When the current coalition government took power and enacted budget cuts, "soldiers were an easy target," and now the ministry is seeing the consequences.

A rapidly aging population will also contribute to staffing issues and will cause recruitment to be about half of what it was in the 1990s, Vondra said. The stagnation in new additions to the Army is evident in the increase in the average age of soldiers. Since 2004, the average age of military officers has increased from 29 to 35 years old and for enlisted persons from 23 to 28 years old, according to the ministry.

"As a consequence, the Army must enhance the attractiveness of a career as a soldier," Caletka said. That means having attractive salaries and services for soldiers and their families, as well as improving military bases, working conditions and health care.

"But it is not only about the money. The Army and the Defense Ministry need to improve their organizational structure and reputation to be considered an attractive employer, [which means] no more corruption affairs and bad economic decisions," Lužný said. 

The Defense Ministry is at the center of an ongoing corruption investigation regarding accusations from a military contractor alleging that former Defense Minister Martin Barták demanded bribes worth millions of dollars.

Vondra has also been scrutinized, and there were calls for his departure after revelations about an overpriced contract approved during the 2009 European Union presidency.

The problem of keeping up military competitiveness in the face of shrinking budgets is being felt across Europe, and topped the agenda at recent meetings between NATO and EU states where NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called for countries to work toward greater cooperation in order to take spread resources more efficiently.

"It's important to get a real professional army, and it would be smart to focus on some areas and become slightly more specialized for our international partners," said Vít Střítecký, an analyst at the Prague Institute for International Relations. "Then professionals in these areas would be happy to serve in the military. I don't see it as a demographic problem as much as it needs to be an interesting career for young people."

Officials need to make sure initiatives listed in the White Paper for better education in the military are carried out, Střítecký said, though it will likely prove a difficult and complicated task.

"In a small country, you need to join the right alliances and organizations, and we've done that," he said.

"We need to find where we are strong in technology and science capabilities, because this is where we can complement NATO and EU forces."

Cat Contiguglia can be reached at
ccontiguglia@praguepost.com