Setbacks Defense Budget

The setbacks of Defense will rise to 333 million in 2018. This is written in the vision on the future of the armed forces, on which Jeanine Hennis, Minister of Defence, works at this moment. Hennis announced the cuts in a letter to the House, in which she describes the outline of her vision on the future of the armed forces. There are additional costs because she gets no price adjustments anymore and no VAT compensation. That means new cuts. All parts of the armed forces will be faced with the savings. Also the operational forces are not unaffected. Hennis will provide clarity for staff within this year. The structural 'bringing back to order of the finances' is one of the principles of the vision. The letter was also signed by Jeroen Dijsselbloem Minister of Finance. The strategy is built around the idea that the uncertainty in international relations is a constant factor. Europe has to be more responsible for its own safety, because the U.S. focuses more on Asia. Since there is no "standard recipe" for military deployment, the Army must be able to continue to participate in all types of operations, from attack to defense. In the future, the armed forces have to remain deployed worldwide to the highest level of violence. Comments unions military personel The military union VBM is 'extremely concerned' now Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert of Defense announced new cuts on Tuesday. Chairman Jean Debie of VBM calls the letter ‘extremely worrying for the personnel’. According to him, there is nothing left at Defence. Since 2003 the army has lost more than 24,000 functions. According to chairman Marc Natris of union GOV / MHB, the letter means that Defence has to adjust its ambitions downward. A mission of four years as in Uruzgan can not happen anymore, he says. He sees no end to the turmoil among the defense personnel, because new reorganizations will come. Defense is still in the middle of a reorganization due to a cut of one billion made by Rutte I. Therefore 6000 people loose their jobs. The new cuts will also affect the operational units next to the Staff, according to Natris. The AFMP calls the new cuts 'irresponsible'. According to chairman Anne-Marie Snels, the Minister should as soon as possible make clear which people are affected. The personnel thinks that they are kept too long in uncertainty.