According to Wijnen, the Netherlands should follow the example of Sweden, Finland and the Baltic states, countries that border or are close to Russia and where the population is better prepared for a war with its big neighbor. “The Netherlands must learn again that the entire society must be ready when things go wrong,” he says in the newspaper. For citizens, this means having food and drinking water in stock so that they can get ahead in the event of an emergency. “The Netherlands should not think that safety is guaranteed with us because we are 1,500 kilometers away.”
Wijnen warns that Russia is becoming increasingly stronger and that a strong army is needed for deterrence. “There is only one language that Russia understands: that of a robust armed forces,” he says. It is therefore important that the personnel shortage in Defense is reduced. Wijnen expects a lot from the voluntary service year for young people, which was introduced this year following the Swedish example. Six hundred young people have participated, but Wijnen hopes to be able to attract two to three thousand young people every year, a third of whom will choose a career in the army afterwards and a third will become a reservist. He speaks in ‘De Telegraaf’ of a “shell of 18-year-olds”, with which the professional army can be supplemented and losses can be absorbed.
Wijnen will soon exchange the Ministry of Defense for that of Infrastructure and Water Management, where he will become Director General of Rijkswaterstaat on January 1.