The bill was Thursday approved for discussion with 66 votes in support, one against and 12 abstentions. The document will now proceed to parliamentary committees.
“The officers who analyzed and made conclusions on the Zapad training currently make 800 euros per month in take-home wages,” Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis said in the presentation of the bill.
According to information available to him, net wages of specialists and senior specialists currently ranges between 665 euros and 1,007 euros.
Karoblis said the amendments were aimed to improve the remuneration system of intelligence officers to make it more flexible and more motivating.
During the discussion of the bills a the government in January, Darius Jauniškis, director of the State Security Department, said the amendments would allow raising wages for officers of his institution by 30 percent from July of 2019.
According to preliminary calculations, the department will need an additional 3 million euros for projects in both 2019 and 2020, while salaries of the Defense Ministry’s Second Investigations Department will require 2 million euros for each of the coming two years.