The Ministry of Defense welcomes the decision of the Independent Trade Union to withdraw from the strike announced for today, after yesterday the Minister of Defense Slavjanka Petrovska and all four defense unions, including the Independent Trade Union of Professional Soldiers, agreed to further amendments to the Law in favor of soldiers.

Namely, the new changes, which we informed the public about yesterday with a joint statement and consent of all unions, envisage proposals that will significantly improve the rights of our members, such as harmonization with the minimum wage, which means a linear increase in the salaries of active military and civilian personnel, the right to a pension will be upon completion of 40 years of service, ie 38 for women regardless of age, and a new calculation will be made for active military and civilian personnel who have acquired the right to a pension from the day of "formation of the Army in the amount of 80% during the most favorable ten years of retirement," said the Ministry.

Regarding the severance pay as an opportunity for professional soldiers over 45 years of age, in the amount of 1000 Euros for each year spent in the Army, the new proposal according to the request of the Trade Unions is the amount to be two average salaries but not less than 1000 Euros, which is left space for a higher amount.

Prior to proposing amendments to the Law on Trade Unions, the Ministry of Defense undertook to examine the possibility of extending the right to receive severance pay to professional soldiers over 45 years of age retained as auxiliary technical staff in the Ministry, and to determine whether the conditions for retirement of Army members may apply to soldiers deployed after reaching the age of 45 in other institutions.

Additionally, Minister Petrovska stressed that in the framework of the reform of the Crisis Management System and the Law on Critical Infrastructure, she will consider the possibility for professional soldiers over 45 years of age to be taken over by those institutions if such an opportunity opens in system solutions.

The draft-amendments to the Law on Service in the Army of the Republic of Northern Macedonia, which was blocked by the opposition for a year and a half, were withdrawn by Minister Petrovska in order to be supplemented and submitted to the Parliament as a joint product, created through an inclusive process. The Ministry, the General Staff and the defense unions.

At the same time, Minister Petrovska undertook to talk to her colleagues at the government session on Wednesday, in order to overcome the challenges regarding the transfer of professional soldiers to other institutions. The dialogue continues with all defense unions.