The Liberal Party (PL) considers that the National Army should be organized according to a new model. The military men should be drafted into the army only on a contract basis. The party’s chairman Mihai Ghimpu told a news conference on June 9 that Moldova should switch from the Soviet army model to a European model, IPN reports.

According to Liberal leader, an army whose soldiers are employed on a contract basis is much more professional. “In 2009, Moldova started to reform itself, setting the integration into the EU as objective. As reforms are being done in a number of areas, we consider that it’s time for the army to be reformed too. That’s why we suggest getting rid of the Soviet model and switching over to an army with soldiers employed on a contract basis, as in most of the EU member states,” said Mihai Ghimpu.

He noted that three laws must be modified for this to happen. “We must be sure that Moldova has a small, but good army that will be able to ensure peace and serenity,” said the chairman of the PL.

The PL’s secretary general Ion Apostol said Moldova needs a well trained army because the Nistru military conflict of 1992 showed that the military staff and officers must be highly qualified.