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The 'Ministry of Defence' (''Ministerie van Defensie''; Def) is the Dutch Ministry of Defence: it is occupied with coordinating military of the Netherlands. The current minister is Eimert van Middelkoop, he is aided by a state secretary Cees van der Knaap.

Contents

Responsibilities

Organisation

History

Ministers

External links

Responsibilities

The ministry has the responsibility to

★ protect the territory of the Netherlands and her allies, including the Dutch Antilles and Aruba.

★ protect and enhance the international legal system and stability.

★ support civil authorities in maintaining order, in case of emergencies and in giving humanitarian aid, both national and international.

Organisation

The ministry consists out of the political leadership the ministers and the state secretary, the civil service in the Hague and the military of the Netherlands. The ministry is led by the secretary-general, the highest civil servant and a vice-secretary general. It consists out of three directorat-generals, for finance, personnel and equipment. They control the latter two control the Commando Service Centres (Commando DienstenCentra) and the Defense Material Organization (Defensie Materieel Organisatie). The highest military official is the commander of the armed forces (Commandant der Strijdkrachten), he controls the operational commandos, the Royal Netherlands Army, Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Constabulary. The ministry employes over 70.000 civil and military personnel.

History

Since 1813 the Netherlands had a ministry of War and a ministry of the Navy. In 1928 these merged to form the ministry of defense, but between 1945-1959 the ministries were separated again. In this period the minister of War and the Navy were often the same person and the state secretary of the Navy were responsible for daily affairs. In 1959 the ministries were merged.

Ministers

Since 1989 the following politicians have been minister of Defense:
2007-now Eimert van Middelkoop (ChristenUnie

★ 2007-now Cees van der Knaap (CDA, state secretary)
2002-2007 Henk Kamp (VVD)

★ 2002-2007 Cees van der Knaap (CDA, state secretary)
2002 Benk Korthals (VVD)

★ 2002 Cees van der Knaap (CDA, state secretary)
1998-2002 Frank de Grave (VVD)

★ 1998-2002 Henk van Hoof (VVD)
1994-1998 Joris Voorhoeve (VVD)

★ 1994-1998 Jan Gmelich Meijling (VVD)
1989-1994 Relus ter Beek (PvdA)

★ 1993-1994 Ton Frinking (CDA)

★ 1989-1993 Berend-Jan van Voorst tot Voorst (CDA)

External links

★ Ministry of Defence