Government Intends to Tighten Up Soldiers’ Legal Status

The Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence said that the most important novelty of the new Act on the legal status – which is to come into force as of July 1, 2013 – would be the extended time in grade. According to him, they need to impose this requirement to be able to restore the desired personnel composition and to phase out the service pension scheme. As new elements, he referred to the option of promotion to so-called “moving" ranks – also known from international examples –, which may be temporarily higher or lower than the one actually held; and to the imposed one-year moratorium on promotion and appointment of the rank and file.

The bill also includes the cases of dishonorable discharge from military service. On the basis of the proposal, the Chief of Defence will be appointed for a specific period of five years, which is longer than the terms of government and may be extended for a period of maximum five years. Tamás Vargha told us that the proposal was aimed at creating a simpler legislation, reducing bureaucracy, achieving the more economical spending of public funds and addressing subjects not requiring national legislation on the level of regulations.