The military sector in every South East European nation faces the difficult
challenge of restructuring and, inevitably, downsizing its forces and activities.
While that entails a number of internal challenges for future military strategy
and tasks, it also involves considerable external dislocation, particularly in
economic terms.
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Personnel
The
single biggest cost factor in every military is personnel. A leaner military sector
results directly in releasing former military personnel into the civilian labor
market. As the skills acquired by these personnel often have little direct bearing
on existing commercial requirements, the likely initial result is unemployment
and disillusionment, which carry with them potential security implications. In
close collaboration with a number of international organizations, notably NATO,
and donor governments, the Stability Pact is associated with a number of programs
in South East European nations to provide training opportunities for former military
personnel so as to ease and speed their transition to a productive civilian life.
Currently active programs are currently operating in Bosnia, Bulgaria and Romania,
while plans are underway to implement programs in Croatia, Albania and Yugoslavia.
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Physical Assets
While providing a future for former military
personnel is a priority task, downsized militaries also have diminished use for
physical assets, notably military bases. Assisting the defence sector in South
East Europe to convert its physical assets into productive economic resources
helps consolidate security sector reform and contribute to national prosperity.
Together with NATO, the Stability Pact has spearheaded a process of pilot project
development coupled with assistance in the development of a long-term strategic
approach to closing and converting military assets. With programs currently active
in Romania and Bulgaria, Croatia and Yugoslavia have specifically expressed interest
in proceeding in the near future.
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A clear and easily understood process for future military planning and resource
allocation is at the heart of full democratic control of the armed forces and
comprehensive regional stability. Facilitating the process of greater transparency
in this area as well as a sharing of learned lessons is the key to the Stability
Pact programs in this area. The Pact has sponsored a Bulgarian-British collaborative
effort to establish a regional planning and budgeting center in Sofia. This
center provides, through both an experts and academic task forces, substantial
ideas on how to improve and share experiences in defense planning. In turn,
this will provide a steady stream of confidence building measures for the region.
The Center's first product, an annual yearbook on planning, has yielded the
first tangible evidence of a new culture of openness and cooperation in this
field.
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