Novica Antic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/MO)
According to Novica Antic, the head of the Serbian Military Union, the Defense Ministry’s latest suggested amendments to the law on armed forces are “in collision with the Constitution and international labor laws and regulations.”
Antic thinks that the majority of new provisions are poorly written and that, instead of solving the burning issues the Army has been dealing with, they only add to them. “In case the amendments are adopted, I’m convinced that even more people would leave the Army,” the union head said for the July 24 issue of the Danas daily.
In the same interview he even called the defense system “a hostage of certain generals who have nothing better to do, being idle at home, and who are not ready to relinquish the privileges that they have been accustomed to.”
“The higher-ups don’t really want to retire and the [Defense Ministry] would like to change the law to accommodate them. This way, however, important higher positions are being usurped […] while junior staff is being deprived of any chance of promotion and advancement,” Antic believes.
If the new law is passed, Antic said the union will appeal to the international institutions, the Venice Commission and the European Organisation of Military Associations and Trade Unions (EUROMIL), whose member the Serbian union has been for years. The union, too, will go out on the streets, joining the citizens who have been protesting against the government since May.
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