In several interviews, she made it clear that, contrary to previous statements, barracks could very well be closed. Only whole garrisons, consisting of several barracks, should not be disbanded, she said in the 1-morning journal.
“Garrisons will never be closed,” said Tanner on Saturday on ORF radio. However, barracks could still be closed – for example in Krnten, where two old barracks will be dropped and a new one will be built. Tanner is planning a “consolidation program” for urban areas, for example in Vienna, she said. “However, I plan to spend a lot of money on the renovation of barracks,” she said to the “courier”.
Speaking to the daily newspaper “Die Presse”, Tanner described the fact that national defense should no longer be a core competence of the army as “absurd”. The minister announced that the government program would be implemented “on the dot and in commas”. The VP politician denied that she had partially withdrawn from the announced reform process and said: “I will never row back. I am used to marching through.”
One would learn a lot from the deployment of the militia during the corona crisis, Tanner said – for example, that regular exercises were necessary. These exercises – “for the volunteers, as every two years” – should be part of a militia package as well as investments in equipment, Tanner said.
Regarding financing, Tanner said in the “Kurier” that with a regular budget it would not be possible “to be able to reduce the investment backlog of the past decades”. Therefore, she agreed special investment packages with the Ministry of Finance, with a focus on barracks and militia. “At the militia, we are working on the packages to get a total of 110 million euros this year and next year. I have already agreed to this,” said the minister.
Stelzer insists on the preservation of the barracks locations
The Upper Austrian governor and current chairman of the LH conference Thomas Stelzer insists in the discussion about the army reform aimed by Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (both VP) on the preservation of the barracks locations and on a better equipment of barracks and recruits. Overall, however, he supports efforts to reform the army, said Stelzer in the APA discussion.
“From a federal state perspective, there are only a few important premises,” he emphasized on Friday afternoon. On the one hand, these concern the equipment of the barracks and the staff – “there are a lot of young people, whom we demand part of their life here” – and on the other hand, the number of barracks locations. “Some people in Upper Austria have already got away in the last few years. The number we have now is simply needed, they also have to be secured.”
Overall, however, he supports efforts to reform the federal army, said Stelzer, “because it is clear that threat scenarios have also changed” – keyword cyberattacks. “The Bundeswehr’s very own task is national defense, which must also be guaranteed. But the new tasks are also important.”
