With the disappearance of the barracks from Assen, the city will probably get much less employment back. That is what Minister Hanke Bruins Slot of the Interior said in a parliamentary debate about civil servants.
“It will be challenging to fill the number of departing soldiers with other employment”, the minister responded to questions from Hoogeveen VVD Member of Parliament Mark Strolenberg. Moreover, this must largely be filled by Defense itself. Discussions are currently being held with the province and the municipality of Assen about this. State Secretary Van der Maat previously made a commitment to see whether there are other defense activities that could come to Assen.
According to Bruins Slot, she would like to look into possibilities from the Ministry of the Interior to compensate if government employment disappears. “But those will never be large numbers.”
At the moment 1050 soldiers are active at the Johan Willem Friso barracks. In addition, there are five hundred training places. But Defense wants to get rid of the complex and house the soldiers at the barracks in Havelte.
By the end of this year, Van der Maat wants to be clear whether he can reach an agreement with Assen and Drenthe about a different interpretation of the barracks.