Attending the Committee Meeting were The Minister of Defence, Yuriy Yekhanurov, The Minister of Industrial Policy, Volodymyr Novytsky, Acting Chief of The Security Service, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, and Senior Officials of State Agencies and Departments.
Anatoliy Hrytsenko, the Committee Chairman, remarked that he had insufficient time to provide a detailed analysis of the Document presented by the Government. Having only made a brief acquaintance with the Bill, he concluded that 'this is not a Budget for the Development of The Armed Forces, but one for public consumption.'
Yuriy Yekhanurov, Minister of Defence, expressed his concern at the Army's needs for the coming year having only two-thirds of the funding required. Yu Yekhanurov gave a detailed account of discarded proposals from his Ministry concerning an increase in expenditure, and appealed to the People's Deputies to support the Bill. 'We are interested in adopting the Bill, whatever it is, otherwise in the event it is not adopted, a collapse will already ensue in January'.
The Heads of State Agencies and Departments, whose scope is covered by The National Security and Defence Committee, spoke on their vision of the required funding for their offices and divisions. They noted substantially reduced appropriations towards monetary payments and housing provision for Military personnel. The speakers tabled their proposals and asked the Committee to take account of these requirements when working on the Bill.
The Committee Members who took the floor also expressed their concern at the reduction in funding of The Armed Forces and other Law Enforcement Agencies. The People's Deputies emphasized the obligation of the State to fulfill its commitments to Military personnel, without decreasing their social guarantees.
The outcome of this discussion resulted in the Committee Members deciding they will insist on safeguarding of monetary and other provisions for Military Personnel in the Bill, together with upholding of all social guarantees.
The Committee will also insist on amendments to the Law of Ukraine 'On the State Budget 2008' early next year, to secure the funding of The Armed Forces and other Law Enforcement Agencies at a level of 2% of the GDP.