28.02.2012.

Ceremony on occasion of promoting officers and appointments to new duties

In the House of Guards in Topcider Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac presented the decrees of President of Serbia as of 12 December 2011 and 15 February, the National Day of Serbia, to the newly appointed and promoted officers.

The ceremony was attended by members of the Minister of Defence staff, SAF CHOD Lieutenant-General Ljubisa Dikovic, Deputy CHOD, Maj. Gen. Milan Bjelica, as well as representatives of the organizational units of the Ministry of Defense and the Army of Serbia.

Congratulating the gathered officers Sutanovac wished that their professional lives would not be much easier, but that they are more successful than in the previous period.

- I am glad that in this way we have made this little ceremony, as this indicates that there is a symbiosis between the civilian and military authorities in both the Government and the Ministry of Defence, said the Minister, pointing out that he was glad their success was being celebrated in this manner, which is considered a joint success. Furthermore, he pointed out that in the process of nomination and appointing officers with the president’s decree there was no dilemma.

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The Chief of General Staff has worked with me and we reached a common conclusion which is the result of the experience that I have gained as a minister, but of certainly the experience that General Dikovic has attained during his many years in the army - the minister explained, adding that today are very important thing in terms of Serbia's future and further integration in which the defense system, where especially the Army of Serbia was the main bearer of the job.

- The Army has met all necessary criteria to drive towards further integrations. In some cases we even went ahead of time, he said, emphasizing the participation of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Armed Forces in the peacekeeping mission under the auspices of the European Union.

- This participation of our soldiers came as a surprise to our colleagues from the European Union, and this was the impetus for our colleagues, the ministers of defense from the EU, to support Serbia on its European path, and to support further integration, the minister explained.

He added that there had been a shift in the system of values which resulted in a modern and modern army and officers, officers who understand their place in the system, but also the position of Serbia in the world and Europe.

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Keep in mind that, unfortunately, not all are well-meaning , who prosper when Serbia is in problems. They may be radical on the one hand or liberal the other hand, but however their aim to demonstrate that the system does not work well and to destabilize the system so they can get a chance to solve problems, said the minister.

In particular, he noted, now that there are general Dikovic has found himself under the barrage of vicious attacks everyone is giving him support, as a symbol of a fine soldier and one of them. At the same time all are expectations for European integration have been met, so there is more capacity to defend against these types of attacks that will have an epilogue in court.

Speaking of the reform process in the defense of our country, Sutanovac said that this process is complete, because most of the strategic tasks that were defined almost a decade ago have been brought to the max, and is now it is juts a matter of fine-tuning the system and reform at the tactical level.

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We remain, however, in the period when it is important to continue reforming the systems of values of young officers, but also of you as the oldest among them, so you can accept the modern norms. That will be your job in the future, to influence the consciousness and conscience of all those working in the defense, because we all strive towards improvement but it takes only one man who can disrupt and subvert the system and therefore create a problem, -stressed Sutanovac.

Further on, Sutanovac took the opportunity to congratulate the officers of our army for responding promptly and effectively to recent weather conditions that have paralyzed the whole country.

That is our legal obligation, on the one hand, but we showed that we have the capacity and the people who are devoted. We passed a great test for which many have doubted, and we wanted to give up - the defense minister said, adding that there will be many more exams that will be put before them and will each have to pass, not because of the civil authorities, but for myself.

According to Minister Sutanovac this year will be not a bit lighter but will also be burdened with budget cuts, but if we spend adequately, the system will be functioning very well, even better than in some previous times.