The panel, moderated by Dr Iztok Prezelj, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the President of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia, was attended by Dr Damir Črnčec, State Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, Dr Martin Premk, Chairman of the Defence Committee of the National Assembly, Dr Jelena Juvan, head of the Department of Defence Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Boštjan Pavlin, Director General of the Directorate for Defence Affairs, and Brigadier General Franc Koračin, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces.

The panellists pointed out that staff retention is not only a challenge in Slovenia, but also in other parts of our neighbourhood. As was heard at the consultation, the interlocutors are aware of this challenge in Slovenia and agree that the retention of personnel requires integration and cooperation between all responsible stakeholders. The consultation highlighted many aspects of the reasons for the negative personnel trends that the Slovenian Armed Forces have been facing for many years. The panellists agreed that these trends should also be addressed by improving practices within the system and upgrading the existing normative framework, while attracting young people to the Slovenian Armed Forces was highlighted as a key challenge.

Today's consultation also underlined that the time for change is propitious. More resources will be allocated to modern equipment and modernisation of the Slovenian Armed Forces this year and in the coming years. This is also addressed in the Resolution on the long-term programme for the development and equipping of the Slovenian Armed Forces until 2040, which creates the conditions for more investments in defence in the face of changed security conditions. Thus, on the threshold of digitisation, the Slovenian Armed Forces offers various employment and career development opportunities - from jobs in the field of basic military activities to high-tech systems - while at the same time providing opportunities for young people to get training and career advancement within the system. This, combined with a political climate favourable to the SAF, represents an opportunity for positive changes.