If you have an ally who says he won’t defend you, you don’t need it

He is a doctor of defense. He first worked as a researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, after 2011 at the Ministry of Economy. In 2018, he became Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defense during the government of Marjan Sarac, and a year later he became a Member of Parliament at the Prime Minister Marjan Sarac, where he remained in the Liberal Parliament Group by last year’s European elections. With dr. Klemen Grošlj (1976) talked about the re -arming of Europe, the war in Ukraine and what the European Union should do in new circumstances, after a tectonic change in US policy.

At the end of last year, you warned that the Slovenian Armed Forces simply could not consume more than two percent of Slovenian GDP. Last year, it was 1.35 percent, but sometimes it seems that they have to look for at least that. What does our army actually need?

Above all, a very good development plan. It should come from the fact that the professional army is a core from which, if necessary, it would develop a larger structure. War in Ukraine and Russia has shown that the biggest challenge is when you have a professional army, how to enlarge it. It is a material and personnel part. As a society, we need to find a way to provide additional staff. Not professional soldiers. We will have to go to some form of volunteering or other social agreement. These people will never go abroad, they will always be here. We need to deal with how to encourage citizens to participate voluntarily. Since the law, the military obligation, will not work. An agreement of all political forces will also be necessary for this.

What does the army need in material work?

We need a good air defense system, weapons to fight drone, drone, including armored vehicles. You do not survive without a battlefield on the battlefield today. We also need basic fiery support, that is, artillery systems. And cyber defense.