Austrian Defence Minister Norbert Darabos relieved the army's chief of general staff, General Edmund Entacher, on Monday after Entacher criticized his plans to scrap compulsory military service.
Darabos has been struggling to re-establish his authority recently over top army officers who have openly criticized his plans to scrap conscription in the army and replace it with a professional army.
In an interview published in the weekly magazine Profil, Entacher doubted there was enough money or sufficient applicants to support such a model.
In a statement, Darabos said that Entacher's public comments had "undermined confidence … and so I see myself compelled" to relieve him of his duties.
The Austrian army has shrunk dramatically since the fall of the Iron Curtain and politicians have struggled to define its new role.
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