A discount shopping basket for military families was announced from the parliament podium by Defense Minister Nikos Dendias regarding the bill for the Armed Forces. “I hope the bill will be voted on by January 8,” Minister Dendias initially emphasized. “But in any case, salary increases from 13% to 24% for Armed Forces personnel will apply retroactively from October 2025,” he added, referring to the wage increases that will be voted on at the beginning of the new year and will apply retroactively from October 2025.
Armed Forces: Higher pensions and larger lump sums
Meanwhile, during the discussion on the state budget, the Defense Minister provided clarifications and refuted “inaccuracies” saying that “every officer will receive until the last day of service a higher salary than before. Higher pension and larger lump sum. If you add the increased responsibility and command allowance to these increases, the salaries will be even higher“. Subsequently, responding to opposition criticism about the reactions the proposed bill is causing among Armed Forces non-commissioned officers, he left the door open for changes saying that “no bill is written in stone”.
Armed forces: Discount “basket” for military families
Regarding the “basket” he said “we will attempt to lighten the burden on military families with price reductions of 20%-25% on products available at military stores compared to market prices“.
Among other things, Minister Dendias emphasized that the 7 billion euros allocated for Defense in the 2026 state budget “is the price of protection against a real threat. A threat manifested by a force 9 times larger in population with defense spending costs of 28.7 billion euros. We must confront a multiple budget. This is the price of freedom“.
