PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: President is commander-in-chief, but only on paper

The STA has quizzed the pair about the defence system powers of the president, who is formally the commander-in-chief, but in fact only adopts an annual report on the combat readiness of the Slovenian Armed Forces and promotes brigadiers to generals.

"We can agree that these are two minor powers, which do not influence the development of the Slovenian Armed Forces," Pahor said, saying the public presently had the wrong impression that he is responsible for the situation in the army.

He feels it "would befit" the president "to have slightly more powers and especially to make these powers clear".

Šarec, on the other hand, argued that the commander-in-chief must primarily let the army know that he was on its side and ready to stand up for it.

Announcing he would push for the interests of the Slovenian army "with heart and soul", he said that it was necessary to secure sufficient funds, while the president also needed to work on promoting the profession among the young.

This way "the Slovenian army will become more valued in the future and we will not have to hide it like it is Cinderella, like it is something we do not really know what to do with".

Meanwhile, Šarec is against making public the negative assessments of the combat readiness of the army, since "you cannot be telling to all your neighbours and the wider public that your army is good for nothing".

Pahor, on the other hand, argued that him revealing the issues of the army had been what helped it the most, "finally stopping the trend of decreasing defence funding so that an increase is recorded for the first time this year".

The pair, however, agree that changes to the security and defence system are urgently needed. Pahor noted that the risk factors changed significantly in recent years, "while we haven't changed the concept, the defence philosophy accordingly".

Šarec also feels that the times ahead will require more security activity.

As regards salaries in the army, Pahor said they were so low that people with suitable qualifications were deciding for other types of career.

An intervention at the level of salaries will be essential if we want a professional army, he asserted, saying the starting pay of a soldier without bonuses should come close to EUR 800 net.

Šarec would like to see soldiers get at least EUR 1,000 net and the same goes for other professions where people "are putting their neck on the line".

He feels it is necessary to think about excluding the army, police etc. from the public sector pay system.

Pahor appears to agree, noting a pay increase for soldiers would trigger a number of structural issues due to their inclusion in the public sector pay system.

As to the areas most in need of improvement, Pahor spoke of staffing and modernisation, while Šarec highlighted cyber security and counter-terrorist activity.

Asked if Slovenia should end its involvement in certain international missions or possibly become involved at any new spots, Pahor said that there was currently no need to terminate any mission while he also hopes there will be no need for new missions.

Šarec is also content with the current situation, although he possibly feels some reservations regarding the deployment in Latvia. It would make sense to strengthen Slovenia's role within European mechanisms, which combine civilian and military approaches to security problems which currently mostly come from the south, he said.

Finally, quizzed about whether Slovenia should follow Croatia's example and strengthen its military reserve force or possibly reintroduce compulsory military service, Pahor said he would opt for a "gradual formation of a compulsory reserve", while Šarec is in favour of a stronger voluntary contract-based reserve.