Proposition 54K3124

Projet de loi modifiant la loi du 30 août 2013 instituant la carrière militaire à durée limitée.

General information ¶

Submitted by

MR Swedish coalition

Submission date

June 6, 2018

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

professional career occupational status armed forces military personnel

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V LE Open Vld N-VA LDD MR VB

Abstained from voting

Groen Vooruit Ecolo PS | SP DéFI ∉ PVDA | PTB PP

Party dissidents ¶

• Olivier Maingain (MR) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

July 12, 2018 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I am referring to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, dear colleagues, my group had supported, during the previous legislature, the creation of the BDL status to rejuvenate the armed forces and restore a healthier age pyramid.

The current majority has in the meantime assessed this status in order to adapt it, in particular to ease regulation at the end of the eight-year period, which is deemed to be somewhat abrupt. The objective is therefore clearly to promote the rejuvenation of our army. This objective is reflected in the strategic vision.

Alongside those who wish to have a full military career, others prefer a more limited (8 years) career with, now, four times an additional year. This will allow the Defense to open its status palette to candidates who can thus choose a career that matches their aspirations and meet the challenge of recruiting soldiers that our army is cruelly in need. This issue has been sufficiently discussed in the committee. I will talk about this during the discussion of the second bill on the reserve framework, which is quite expensive to me.

I want here to thank the minister who is looking and testing different paths in order to attract new candidates within his department. His successor will face the same problem.

It will be necessary to properly accompany the military who, arriving at the end of his contract, legitimately wishes to leave the National Defense. Just like in the private sector, we are talking about outsourcing. This is a new element that needs to be paid attention to.

As you pointed out in the committee, Mr. Minister, the measures contained in the bill will allow to optimize the performance of the military BDL, which will also have access to functions likely to evolve, while ⁇ ining, of course, the necessary skills of National Defense at a high level. The military will be able, through this bill, to improve its possibilities of reintegration into the civil sector.

As regards this latter point, I welcome the fact that the maximum reassignment premium increases from 12 to 14 months and that the BDL military who has completed 84 months of active service will have the opportunity to benefit from a customized program of professional reassignment.

This is the reason why we will support this bill.

The limited-term contract is a statute with which we try to attract youth for Defense. Last year, the possibility was offered to extend that contract for 8 years to a maximum of 12 years of service. However, we must ensure that the statute continues to serve the same goal, namely to attract young people by offering short careers. The danger exists that the BDL status becomes increasingly the rule. In practice, however, the recruitment in that statute is not going well at all. The number of vacancies is difficult to fill.

With the design, the reclassification premium is adjusted, but this does not happen with the same coefficient as during the first 8 years. It seems more logical to do that. Those who remain useful for Defence after 8 years can stay one, two, three or four years longer. In that case, the premium that is now predetermined offers insufficient benefits and security.

To address this, our group has submitted two amendments. Unfortunately they were rejected by the majority in the committee. Therefore, we would like to abstain from voting on the draft.

These questions have already been addressed in the committee. Here, in connection with recruitment, there is always a complaint that there are difficulties in attracting young people and that the framework is not filled. Mr. Top, I would like to point out that we already received as many applications today as we received last year throughout the year.

I suggest you the following, Mr. Top, to avoid continuing to provide false information, with which no one is served. We all say that we need a young army and we must be able to attract young and enthusiastic people; we all agree on that. At the same time, we do not stop complaining about how bad everything is. Well, the facts prove the opposite. So I suggest, Mr Top, to ask me a written question about the recruitment figures. So I can provide you with the correct information on paper, black on white, after which you will also be able to communicate in the right way. In the past, we have already seen that it can sometimes happen to your party that you obtain information that does not completely match the reality.

Mr. Minister, it’s not just about applications, but also about the career, about successes and about the soldiers who remain in service. It would be good to conduct the discussion on the basis of all figures.

I would like to refer again to what I have explained in the committee. Our intention is precisely to give soldiers the opportunity to reclassify in Defence in order to get connected to a new career after Defence. With the bill we also give them the possibility of social promotion after a few years, which I am strongly committed to, for example by the abolition of the age conditions. In this way, anyone who joins the army as a volunteer can grow into a sub-officer through social promotion and thus build a career in which he can realize himself.

Let’s be honest, the army needs young soldiers; the army needs soldiers involved in Defense; we also need to find a balance in order to keep the acquired knowledge at home. These are all very important aspects. The rule here is indeed that we start from a short career. If applicable, it can then be extended, either at the request of the person concerned or at the request of Defensie as an employer, in order to ensure continuity.

This is my last word, otherwise we will repeat the discussion from the committee.

I would like to point out once again that the underlying idea of the design is good for us. However, we have submitted two amendments in order to address our concerns that the proposed amendments have sufficient content and that the military indeed requests an extension. Therefore, we want, first, to increase the reclassification premium by the same coefficient as applied during the first eight years. Our second amendment aims to provide, instead of a year-on-year extension, the possibility of a block extension up to four years.

It is a pity that the amendments were not approved, otherwise the text would ⁇ have gained our support.