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Promotional procedures are running in the Greek Army with the speed of lighting for the staff that is currently working as well as for retired military men revealed by Ethnos newspaper. The "party" started back in 2000. The military men entitled to the so-called general's allowances for general staffs chiefs and police generals were 763 people then and today they are already ... 2760 people. This means that as of today 2150 chiefs of the Greek general staff and another 610 generals from the Greek police receive bonuses to their salaries of 415 euros per month. More senior military officers are to be added to them who also receive allowances from the mutual military fund – there are 9050 colonels who receive 350 euros per month as allowances and 7100 lieutenant-colonels that receive allowances of 300 euros per month.

As the military correspondent of the newspaper Dimos Verikios reveled, the promotional procedures "hasten their pace" even more in September 2004 when the political leadership of the Ministry of Defence returned to a law adopted during the years of the junta. So, it made it possible, for example, to promote a colonel to the rank of lieutenant-general overnight even... 10 years after his retirement!!! Such cases are not isolated. They are numerous. We are talking about hundreds of military men promoted only to drain the mutual military fund.

It has been in the red for years and actually the state budget funds it by annually allocating 50 million euros for it. The government submitted a rescue plan for the fund but its management board, which is the same at least since 2000, explicitly rejected it. The government proposed increase in the membership dues to the fund from 4% to 5% of the salary, reduction of all currently paid allowances by 25%, tying the amount of the allowances with the years served in the army as well as with the amount of contributions the military men have done over the years, and the fund to utilize its property to increase its income and, of course, to change the members of the Board.

Naturally, the Board of the mutual military fund rejected the rescue plan. However, if it continues to persist, the Audit Court of Greece will deal with the money of the fund in 2011 and it is likely to temporarily suspend all payments to the fund.