DefMin Mosteanu: Cutting personnel expenditure in the army would undermine military motivation

The Minister of National Defence, Ionut Mosteanu, said on Tuesday that he opposes the 10% cut in salary expenditure in the national defence system, noting that the understanding reached in the coalition two weeks ago was that this sector would be exempt, while on Tuesday "the discussions moved towards the idea of cutting everywhere"."I opposed this idea [of cutting salary expenditure in the army, editor's note]. There are discussions regarding the reduction of salary spending in the public sector. The understanding from two or three weeks ago was that the national defence system would be exempt from these measures, given the realities we are facing: we have a war at our border, drones are exploding next to us every week, all the countries around us are investing in defence, we have committed to investing more, up to 5% of GDP. And it seems totally inappropriate to me, to use a diplomatic term, to touch now on the motivation of the military," Mosteanu said in Parliament.Asked whether he has guarantees from coalition leaders that defence salaries will not be reduced, Mosteanu replied: "There were no guarantees, but that was the understanding.""I raised, as did Catalin Predoiu [Minister of Internal Affairs, editor's note], the issue of these possible exceptions, related to the discussion on salary cuts in the public system. Yesterday the discussions somehow moved towards the idea of cutting salary expenditure everywhere by 10%, and I do not agree with that in defence," Ionut Mosteanu said.He added that the defence budget needs to increase, noting that this year it is 2.3% of GDP and must reach 5% of GDP by 2035."We need a gradual increase, the army's need for equipment is great. (...) We cannot talk about cuts in defence right now, when drones are falling every week, as you have seen near Dobrogea, and we have very, very many challenges. That we can optimise expenditure, I agree, we can optimise in certain places, but let us do it with a scalpel, not with an axe in this case," the minister said.According to him, the coalition discussed only personnel expenditure, not investments."From ministry to ministry, the realities or proportions in which expenditure is made are different. So the proportions between budgets and budget lines look different in transport, defence, health, development and so on. Yesterday's discussion was about salary expenditure only," Mosteanu noted.Asked what he will do if the coalition's decision is to cut personnel expenditure, including in the army, by 10%, Mosteanu said: "I do not want to discuss hypothetical scenarios now.""Many things have been discussed, many things have been written, many things have changed in these months of governing with a coalition that operates rather awkwardly, but with small steps we are moving in the right direction. We shall see how things continue, what decision will be made. I trust that all coalition colleagues understand the reality we are facing as a country, and also understand the priorities," he added.Mosteanu said that personnel expenditure in the army cannot be cut at this moment."We cannot cut personnel expenditure in the army right now; personnel expenditure also includes salaries, equipment and food allowances. We need more people, we need to bring more people into the army. Every year there is the intake that must be assigned, we need recruitment of professional enlisted soldiers. This year, also for budgetary reasons, we have been very late and only in November did we start training. Next year, another 2,000 professional enlisted soldiers were supposed to enter; there is the voluntary military service programme which is in Parliament," the defence minister said.In his view, expenditure on procurement programmes also cannot be reduced."We have procurement programmes under way, there are instalments that must be paid for the ongoing programmes, there are new programmes that must be started, the SAFE programme is coming. Maybe some optimisations can be made, for example on the investment side - perhaps we will not renovate certain barracks next year, we will renovate them in two or three years, patch them here and there. (...) Some expenditure is not urgent or a priority for next year, but the budget also concerns our commitment to our allies and partners. We need greater and faster equipping of the army, we need proper motivation, we need people to see a perspective and that things do not change depending on which way the wind blows," Mosteanu underlined.