Entrepreneurial associations in Drenthe support the municipality of Assen and the province in their struggle to preserve the Johan Willem Friso barracks. They fear that closure will have major negative consequences for the city and employment.
“We are standing shoulder to shoulder with the province and the municipality,” says Ton Schroor of entrepreneurs’ association VNO-NCW and MKB Noord. In a letter to the politicians of Drenthe and Assen this evening, the Provincial Executive and the Assen Council have announced that they are jointly committed to preserving the barracks. State Secretary Christophe van der Maat (VVD) has said that closure is ‘a serious option’.
John Kauffeld, the chairman of the Drenthe department of VNO-NCW and MKB Noord, has to sigh. The barracks in Assen were also threatened with closure in 2011 and 2013 due to budget cuts at the Ministry of Defense. He thinks the timing for the plan is bad due to several circumstances. He mainly points to the corona virus and the NAM.
“The NAM also has plans to leave Drenthe, which has consequences for employment,” he says. “And we have now had a considerably less time with corona. It will be very difficult to recover in the coming period, and then this will be added. Then a lot will fall away.”
History
In the coalition agreement, the Rutte IV cabinet already announced that the Defense organization will divest superfluous real estate, and make the required real estate more sustainable and modern. “The most important thing is that it’s not about buildings, it’s about jobs,” says Kauffeld. He also points to the long historical link between the barracks and Assen, and Drenthe.
According to colleague Schroor, many people are working in Assen thanks to the barracks. “That is good for Assen, Drenthe and the entire North”, he sums up. “They make use of the local SMEs and catering. The employees live here. Their children go to school here.”
The Provincial Executive and the Municipal Executive of Assen already warned in their letter about the loss of 1000 direct jobs, 500 training places and the associated indirect employment in the Assen region.