Col Peter ŠVEC (SKAF), President of the Association of the Slovak Soldiers
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In my presentation I would like to describe the Slovak approach and understanding of the civil control of the armed forces. My agenda is going to be similar to those of my predecessors.
The civil control of armed forces is primarily dealing with the civil-military relations. I prefer to use the terms of the "democratic control" or "political control", nevertheless, the term "civil control" is more common.
After gaining independence on 1 January 1993, Slovakia was in much more difficult situation than its neighbours were. We created completely new military forces and other institutions. We have adopted a new constitution and our lawmakers were extremely busy. In addition to that, we were able to start the process of the civil control of the armed forces.
Slovakia applied for the NATO membership and is trying to fulfil all requirements to achieve this goal. In the Presentation document, we took over a commitment to improve mechanism of the democratic control over the armed forces in accordance with western standards. We are still far away from a desired result, but we moving in the right direction.
Let me now describe our understanding of the requirement and how we are going to cope with a problem. I would like to stress out the fact that no one can tell a proper definition of the civil control of the armed forces. The Slovak approach is based on a strong belief that the democratic civil control of the armed forces is a complex problem involving many measures and inter-related agencies. Quite peculiar the process in Slovakia was initiated by the military personnel as we have very quickly realized the importance of an issue of "guarding the guards". We see the objective of the control in not allowing the military to overcome constitutional limits while doing their business. In our understanding, it is a double hatted problem, that means - control and supervision of the armed forces.
We see the basics of the democratic civil control of the armed forces in creating constitutional, legislative, and institutional structures and measures, which will create conditions for subordination of the military to democratically elected institutions, and also a division of the control over the defence forces between the legislative and executive branches.
In our view, every country shall adopt its own approach, but disregarding a sequence, basically by establishment of our own model, we are trying to address the following areas:
- Orientation of the armed forces and all conceptual issues have to be controlled and driven by politicians, not by military personnel. There is a need for total subordination of the military to the politics. (we advanced significantly in this requirement - civilian minister, State Defence Council, role of the President, Parliament).
- Clear division of responsibilities, legal and constitutional framework for relations between political and military bodies and also between military and civil servants in the ministry of defence. (it relates to the President, Parliament, government, minister, MOD, staffs) Political authority, but also military professionalism, should be strengthen.
- Political neutrality of the military, no party membership is required for this stage of development. We had to adopt this measure immediately after the Velvet revolution.
- Elected or politically appointed civilian as a minister of defence, fulfilling a political function, supported by qualified civil servants and military personnel as military experts. (former soldier is also accepted, however, there is a disadvantage in attempts to be involved in details, which are the military area of responsibility).
- Indirect control of the defence and security issues by elected deputies in Parliament, using its own, typical means of control. (defence and security committee, budget and finance committee, foreign affairs committee).
- As the most important means, we consider a control through the defence budget, and in this area Slovakia should improve things, mainly in terms of transparency.
- Balance of the rights and obligations of the military personnel.
- Understanding and adoption of military professionalism. Civil servants should fill all those posts, where the soldier is not required, in other words, we need demilitarization of the defence, but on the other hand, also militarization of professionals.
- Changes in personnel management policy, mainly rotation of personnel within appointments, and selection process should be improved.
- Education of sufficient numbers of civil experts in defence and security area, in order to have partnership between civilians and the military. This was the biggest shortcoming in the former communist countries.
- Mechanism of exchange of ideas and presentation of alternative views to any problems, thus creating conditions for anti-monopolism in terms, that only experts, not the military, will have the only truth.
- Abolition of the information monopoly, new condition for open public information policy. Open and honest public information policy. That requires expertise and experience of the journalists. How Slovakia is addressing this problem will be covered in details by LTC MECIAR.
- Effective legal measures for supervision over the special security services.
- Mutual acceptance between the military and civil population, between armed forces and society. In this regard, Slovakia is in a very good situation and public opinion is showing increasing support for the Army of the Slovak Republic, we are the most trusted institution with up to 75% support. Integration of the military into the society is also not a problem; we did not have separated the military and civilian population. More difficulties I see in acceptance of the principle of the soldier as a "Citizen in Uniform".
- Support of the strong non-governmental component relating to the armed forces, which must be independent from MOD and from the official chain of command. Their role is mainly in presenting alternative views, participation in public debates, connection with the public and all inter-related issues, and to provide a feedback. Let me cover this issue in more details as a Chairman of the Association of the Slovak Soldiers. The MOD has signed a Memorandum of Understanding and agreements with many NGOs, and present cooperation is quite significant. We raised many issues concerning civil military relations; our people are informed, and our representatives work in many expert groups, created by MOD. To mention just a few: parliamentary representative, need of professionalism, unit representatives, need for military reform, need for balance between rights and obligations, etc.). By being mixed civil-military organization (our members come from a broad spectrum of the society), we have an advantage to raise also some unpleasant questions, and I am sure, the big public support is partly achieved by NGOs influence.
The objective is the military professional for the 21st century, but also a new civil servant is needed. This process will require significant changes in educational system both for the military and for civilian experts, and also, as we call it, the "civilization of the military education" in order to find a model, which will allow the military officers understand better future challenges and requirements of the democratic society.
First of all, we must convince the military that the civil and democratic control of the military is nothing against specific military command and control principles in the Army.
What is the way ahead?
* understanding of the complexity throughout the whole society
* complex military reform
* significant change in the mindset
* through the open communication between agencies involved to keep a high reputation of the military within society
* bigger involvement of conscripts in NGOs, introduction of staff and unit representatives
* demonopolization of information flow
* full integration of the civilian experts into the ministry of defence by changing the proportion between servicemen and civilians
* abolition of parallel structures, to put more effectiveness in division of responsibility in order to achieve minimalization of military intervention in the politics and political intervention into the military
* new definition of the army roles, which are already now of a purely defensive nature, implementation of the new defence planning approach
* development of the theoretical basics, which will help define a new place of the armed forces in the society, and also to define the military professionalism and other issues
* creation of the new army, suited for the next century and new relations
* Implementation of the new finance and budget policy, in order to achieve higher transparency of the defence expenditures
* Integration of the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff
* International co-operation
* Continuation in adoption of a new legal system, which will also prevent from a possibility of corruption in the military
* armed forces with clearly defined mission and tasks will prevent the pressure from some pacifist groups, which put in doubt even the existence of the armed forces itself
* in order to fulfil all requirements, we are close to realize the need for significant military reform and for revision of the defence and security policy in Slovakia.
Slovakia moved significantly recently in the area of the civil control of its armed forces. However, we are still missing a common understanding for a need of a consensus within broader political sphere in the field of defence and security policy. Moreover, we have to realize the fact that the civil control of armed forces must be driven by the well educated and prepared civilians. We have to take in account that the soldier after retirement does not become a civilian and his or her mind is still the military one. The best solution at the present, transitional phase, is a mixture of experts in this process.
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