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Ministry of Defence
Ministerie van Defensie
Logo of the Ministry of Defence
Coat of arms of the Netherlands

Ministry of Defence
Department overview
FormedNovember 29, 1813; 210 years ago (1813-11-29)
JurisdictionKingdom of the Netherlands
HeadquartersPlein 4, The Hague, Netherlands
Employees41,380 active duty
6,763 reserve forces
3,000 paramilitary
21,674 civilian staff[1]
Annual budget€21,4 billion (2024)[2]
Minister responsible
Department executives
Websitehttps://www.defensie.nl

The Ministry of Defence (Dutch: Ministerie van Defensie; MinDef) is the Dutch ministry responsible for the armed forces of the Netherlands and veterans' affairs. The ministry was created in 1813 as the Ministry of War and in 1928 was combined with the Ministry of the Navy. After World War II in the ministries were separated again, in this period the Minister of War and Minister of the Navy were often the same person and the state secretary for the Navy was responsible for daily affairs of the Royal Netherlands Navy. In 1959 the ministries were merged once again. The ministry is headed by the Minister of Defence, currently Kajsa Ollongren,[3][4] assisted by the Chief of the Defence, Onno Eichelsheim since April 2021.

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Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet Or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or. [The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces of the Union of Utrecht.] The shield is crowned with the (Dutch) royal crown and supported by two lions Or armed and langued gules. They stand on a scroll Azure with the text (Or) "Je Maintiendrai" (French for "I will maintain".)
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Responsibilities

The ministry is responsible for:

Organisation

The ministry consists of the Minister (Kajsa Ollongren) and the State secretary of Defence (Christophe van der Maat), the so-called Central Staff, the Netherlands Armed Forces and two supporting organisations.

The Central Staff of the ministry is led by the Secretary-General, the highest civil servant. The most important elements of the Central Staff are:

The highest military official is the Chief of Defence (Dutch: Commandant der Strijdkrachten). He is a four-star general or admiral and controls the branches of the armed forces, which are organised in three operational commands:

The fourth branch of service, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, is a gendarmerie force that falls directly under the Secretary-General.

The armed forces are supported by two civil organisations that reside under the Ministry of Defence:

The ministry employs around 70,000 civil and military personnel.

See also

References

  1. ^ (in Dutch) [1], Defensie, September 1, 2023
  2. ^ (in Dutch) [https://www.defensie.nl/onderwerpen/overdefensie/het-verhaal-van-defensie/financien
  3. ^ "Dijkhoff voor even minister van Defensie" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Omroep Stichting.
  4. ^ Editorial, Reuters (3 October 2017). "Dutch defense minister resigns over peacekeepers' deaths in Mali". Reuters. ((cite news)): |first= has generic name (help)

External links

Ministers of Defence of the Netherlands
Netherlands Armed Forces
Government of the Netherlands
Authority control databases
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