{"id":6285,"date":"2019-10-16T10:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T10:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=6285"},"modified":"2019-10-11T14:10:12","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T14:10:12","slug":"the-dutch-ministry-of-defence-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/the-dutch-ministry-of-defence-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-do\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dutch Ministry of Defence: Who are they and what do they do?"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the yearly\u00a0Prinsjesdag<\/em> or the day when the King presents the government’s plan for the upcoming year, the\u00a0Koning<\/em> Willem-Alexander<\/em> announced that the military would receive about \u20ac3 billion (about $3.3 billion US dollars) money for updating and modernising. This project of herstellen en moderniseren 2020 <\/em>which began in 2014, has so far cost \u20ac 11,035 miljard or about $12 billion dollars. But what does the Dutch military do and what is the money used for?<\/p>\n

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Photo taken by 7th Army Training Command found on Flickr.com with license CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n

Ministerie van Defensie<\/h3>\n

The Netherlands Ministry of Defence or\u00a0Ministerie van Defensie<\/em> is the government ministry that is in charge of 4 distinct branches:\u00a0Marine<\/em> (Navy), Landmacht<\/em> (Army), Luchtmacht <\/em>(Air Force) and\u00a0Marechaussee.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

You might have noticed that both\u00a0landmacht<\/em> and\u00a0luchtmacht<\/em> end with the word\u00a0macht.\u00a0 <\/em>One of the definitions of\u00a0macht<\/em> that the Van Dale dictionary<\/a> gives is:<\/p>\n

persoon<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>zaak<\/span>\u00a0die macht heeft<\/span>;\u00a0<\/span>leger, overheid, mogendheid, staat<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>een\u00a0<\/span>hogere<\/span>\u00a0macht<\/span>bovenaards wezen of principe dat de kosmos op bep. wijze regeert en het lot van de mens bepaalt<\/span>;\u00a0<\/span>de\u00a0<\/span>wetgevende<\/span>\u00a0macht<\/span>;\u00a0<\/span>landmacht<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>luchtmacht<\/span>;\u00a0<\/span>grootmacht<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>supermacht<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So the word\u00a0macht<\/em> can be used for organisations that have power or force. The literal translation for both these branches would be “land force” and “air force.” The latter translates quite nicely to the English terms we know.<\/p>\n

The head of this ministry is Anke Bijleveld; she has held this post since October 2017 and her previous experience has been as a public servant. The Chief of Defence or Commandant der Strijdkrachten\u00a0<\/em>is Rob Bauer who is a lieutenant admiral whose military career began in 1981 when he entered military school.<\/p>\n

The following video, titled “Defence protects what is precious to us” explains what the Ministry and the different branches do.<\/p>\n