The National Defense Committee has unanimously initiated the extensive harmonization of so-called operational pay for militia members. The assistance missions carried out by the Austrian Armed Forces during the coronavirus crisis have demonstrated the need for this. The introduction of a volunteer and cadre training bonus is also intended to motivate conscripts to serve in the militia. At the request of all parliamentary groups, a similar adjustment was also made to the basic pay of civilian service personnel.
Several problems have come to light in connection with the Austrian Armed Forces’ coronavirus-related assistance missions. For example, it became apparent that the salaries paid during deployment for identical functions were very different in some cases. With an amendment to the Army Fees Act and the Army Discipline Act (851 d.B.) is now intended to harmonize the “operational pay” for conscripts in the militia and women in militia service. The amendment was adopted unanimously by the committee after the ÖVP and the Greens had tabled an amendment in committee with editorial corrections and clarifications. In order to motivate more conscripts to join the militia, a volunteer bonus and a cadre training bonus will also be introduced, explained ÖVP MP Friedrich Ofenauer. The volunteer bonus would be paid to conscripts who volunteer for militia exercises. Nurten Yilmaz (SPÖ), David Stögmüller (Greens), Douglas Hoyos-Trauttmansdorff (NEOS) and committee chairman Reinhard Bösch (FPÖ) also signaled the approval of their parliamentary groups. An initiative motion tabled by all parliamentary groups in connection with the amendment was unanimously adopted, with which the basic pay for ordinary or extraordinary civilian service and the supplement to the basic pay for deployments were also adjusted in line with the change to army pay. Federal Minister Elisabeth Köstinger, who is responsible for civilian service matters, explained that, in line with the principle of equal treatment, civilian service members should be compensated equally for approximately the same workload. The committee members also discussed the Defense Minister’s reports on the costs incurred by the Austrian Armed Forces as part of the COVID-19 Crisis Management Fund and the report on the military services of women for 2019 and 2020. A motion for a resolution by the FPÖ on the expansion of the Allentsteig military training area into a security island was postponed. However, a related motion by the ÖVP, Greens and NEOS was passed unanimously, according to which the Minister of Defense should present an overall concept for security islands for the whole of Austria by the end of the year. A NEOS motion calling for a study on the constitutionality of an airspace surveillance concept in cooperation with other EU partner states by October 31 of this year was adopted by a majority.
