24. 01. 12. - 15:34

Darabos discloses financial frame of disputed project

Defence Minister Norbert Darabos has revealed first financial details of his controversial army reform.

The Social Democrat (SPÖ) recently came in the firing line by revealing ambitions to carry out pilot projects to prove that the Austrian military could achieve the same without additional costs following his reform. Darabos wants to restructure the troops into a fully professional organisation which can do without recruits.

Federal President and former SPÖ Science Minister Heinz Fischer failed to hide his disappointment about the defence minister’s U-turn regarding the Austrian military system. Darabos announced in 2010 he wanted to abandon the Austrian system of conscriptions in favour of a smaller, professional force.

His statements came shortly after SPÖ Vienna Mayor Michael Häupl suggested an open debate. Häupl made clear that he preferred a reform. The influential Social Democrat argued that young men’s time was often wasted during their time in the army. He said their contributions to society would be higher if the law allowed them to study or work immediately after finishing school.

Darabos – who said several times that the conscription system was "set in stone" before he focused on reforming it – announced yesterday (Mon) that he intended to spend an additional eight million to 10 million Euros on upcoming pilot projects until 2014. The defence and sports minister explained that some battalions would be managed as if they were consisting only of professional soldiers to find out whether they could do without conscripts. He added that temporary changes would also affect the defence ministry’s headquarters in Vienna.

The defence minister said his department could cope with the additional costs caused by the various checks and tests which should show that Austria would be better off with a professional military. Darabos explained that the defence ministry had sufficient assets by saving money over the years.

Chief of Staff Edmund Entacher said yesterday that the pilot projects could mean delays for ongoing or planned construction and renovation projects at barracks all over Austria. Entacher got his job back only last November. He was sacked by Darabos in January 2011 only a few days after expressing concerns about the reasonability of the minister’s latest visions.

Entacher said in a profil interview published shortly before the controversial dismissal that the current system had proven to be "generally functioning and successful". He emphasised that the army’s generals were not opposing reforms if they made sense. He admitted that internal procedures could be "optimised" to raise the military’s efficiency – but also pointed out that a switch to a fully professional army would feature "many open questions".

Entacher appealed Darabos’ decision to sack him. The chief of staff returned after a commission investigating the case and decided in favour of Entacher – who promised to cooperate professionally with Darabos. The defence minister rejected calls to step down following the occurrences and added that he considered reducing the range of responsibilities of Entacher.

Around 26,000 young Austrians do a six-month service in the army each year under the current system. Austria’s military consists of 16,000 professional soldiers. The Austrian government coalition of SPÖ and the People’s Party (ÖVP) spends less than 2.1 billion Euros – which is only 0.79 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) – on the troops.

Darabos stressed that possibly upcoming defence budget cutbacks would not affect the Austrian army’s peacekeeping battalions. With 1,600, more Austrian soldiers are currently participating in operations around the world organised by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN). The defence ministry invests 80 million Euros in the soldiers’ engagement abroad.