By CEV magazine team

Commander-in-Chief has refused, second time in Serbian modern history, to attend the reception which was put up by the Army (only Josip Broz Tito did this once, due to his illness), the Prime Minister was busy as well, and the Chief of SAF GS has "advised" his colleagues not to spend time with those who do not understand them. First general`s recently published interview was enough to turn the armament`s system upside down.

Chief of SAF GS of Military of Serbia general Zdravko Ponos claimed that "Serbia has no defence policy strategy", and that his confrontations with Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac is of a conceptual rather than a personal nature. Serbian press was yearning to attach statement or two to Ponos or Sutanovac, but they all denied the true nature of this problem. Instead of political affairs and trivial issues - whether the President Tadic encouraged Ponos to "give a punch" to the Minister, or decided to take the side of his best man (Sutanovac) and remove general Ponos who dared to take media as his weapon in order to reveal all the dirt from the inside, no one has ever raised a question on what seems to be the essential problem.

Former Chief of SAF GS of Military of Serbia and Montenegro general Dragan Paskas for CEV magazine explains that the truth is that Serbia has no strategic document also known as the National Security Strategy.

"This document would show the position of Serbia regarding military issues, position to which we head and position which would be eventually reached. This act is of high importance for us, which covers the complete safety system, not only the Army, but Security Services and Police that have been reformed not even a bit and customs as well. In order to make these services understand what do they do and why do they do it, the political definition and vision are necessary to exist. We`re out of that for two decades, and it seems that we`ll miss that for a certain period of time," says general Dragan Paskas.

The lack of vision concerning country`s defence could easily be explained by Euro-Atlantic integration acceptance, and then the refusal of it. Shortly, Serbia has realised in 2001 that the future lies in NATO, which inevitably initiated the question of military reforms, without enough money, enthusiasm and firmness.

That reform, more alike stager toward NATO, has resulted Army formation eliminations and reorganisations in accordance with NATO standards, corpuses and putting Army under civilian control. Accession to NATO program Partnership for Peace and conclusion of few technical-military agreements between the largest military alliance and Serbian Army were the first step toward NATO approach, but in December 2006 this plan suffered collapse.

Vojislav Kostunica, then Serbian Prime Minister, insisted on turning away from NATO, on the plea that this issue relates the solution of Kosovo status, constantly suggesting on recent NATO bombing during 1999. It wasn`t such slavery task to shatter fragile trust, and in the sixth article of the Resolution adopted by delegates in the National Assembly, Serbia has declared military neutrality. It means that everything concerning Serbia`s NATO future that was done until that moment became nonsensical, and no alternative has been offered either.

"This practice is unsustainable and sooner or later it will become clear that military neutrality concept must be rejected, for it is untenable under circumstances Serbia is faced with. We`re surrounded by countries which are either NATO members or desire to approach that Alliance, while NATO troupes are stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. This includes 200.000 NATO soldiers. And if we opt for neutrality, it means that we do not have allies, and that neighbouring countries could be observed as security challengers, I don`t want to say, enemies", explains general Paskas.

In last September, something very similar was declared by general Zdravko Ponos himself, who announced that the reduction of military apparatus is being suspended, and that instead of 20.000 there will be thrice as much soldiers. That means that the costs from the most expensive budget of all Serbian ministries will increase, yet insufficient for basic system maintaining, not to mention modernisation and everything concerning dearly neutrality.

There is no ally ready to defend you, or to sell armours and other defensive systems at favourable prices, and even Serbian dedicated industry has no one to work for because Army cannot afford money to pay for their services, and foreign armies rarely, at poor prices, buy armours from those who are not declared as their allies.

"Citizen have to know that the military reform is suspended, and whatever was done in that domain took small steps", added general Ponos, stressing that "citizen have full right to know what was their money used for".

Military neutrality decision means that Serbia has to change defence policy and conception of military reforms which were in accordance with Euro-Atlantic integration, i.e. adaptation to NATO standards. If Serbia is neutral, it has to specify potential treats much wider, and how to face with them.

If surface would be scratched, do these conceptual differences and argues consider Serbia`s accessing NATO? This question still seeks for proper answer. According to general Paskas, there is probably no lieutenant who claims to be against NATO approach, not for emotional, but for practical reasons, comprehension of the time and circumstances.

"I believe that the Minister of Defence could face a great problem if he`d try to explain the neutrality concept. He understands that partly, unlike general Ponos who knows perfectly well everything about it. As Chief of SAF GS, I also had the opportunity to talk with incompetent people on essential military issues, which bothered me a lot. When I could not bare that situation anymore, I took my uniform off and I left. I don`t know if general Ponos is about to do the same, but his act seems courageous to me, he is right, although his way of acting may be disputable. But if it was the only way, although I think it wasn`t, then it could be explainable", adds general Paskas.

General Paskas has announced some rather shocking details concerning numerical situation in the Army, i.e. the Ministry of Defence. There are 10.000 people under the Military Staff`s command, and twice as much in Ministry of Defence, including generals.

Epilogue of this dispute should be known on next session of the National Security Council, appointed on suggestion of President Tadic, who said that he would timely take "appropriate decisions". Although general Ponos underlined that recent events in Military of Serbia are not "personal war" between him and Minister of Defence, the President said that "he wasn`t satisfied because personal disputes were made public".

No matter the outcome of the dispute (dismissing someone or agreement on common work on defence policy making and national security making), Serbia has troubles in understanding current circumstances, especially regarding security sector.

Knowing that the EU dislikes military neutrality, and that Austria, Finland and Sweden had tasted that attitude before accessing the European Union, Serbia will have to re-examine its positions. (See more http://www.cev.eu.com/en/read_more.php?newsid=20) Emotionless and, if it`s possible, with the excuse of cheap political debates and entertainments, considering the fact that all deadlines have been missed and all benefits of Euro-Atlantic integration have been delayed. Finally, NATO`s and EU`s seat is located in Brussels. That is more or less the same address.