The municipality of Assen and the province of Drenthe are stepping on the brakes when making plans for the future of the Johan Willem Friso barracks. State Secretary Christophe van der Maat wants to make haste, administrators from Drenthe want to take their time. There is hope, however, that the barracks will retain a role within the Ministry of Defense.
The King’s Commissioner in Drenthe, Jetta Klijnsma, also doubts whether the cabinet and Drenthe are on the same page at the end of December. “It would be nice. But I don’t think it is wise to set deadlines now.”
Out is clear. He prefers to keep the current brigades in Assen and sees nothing in Van der Maat’s plans to move units to Havelte, among others.
In any case, the barracks must be used for a role within the armed forces. “Our starting point is still: the barracks will remain in Assen. That means that Defense must continue to play an important role at our barracks in any case,” says Out. “The State Secretary gives room to think about this further, that is a gain. In conversations we had at the beginning of the year, that was not really an option yet.”
Should the barracks become (partly) empty due to the departure of Defense personnel, the State Secretary does not want the region to suffer economically. “Quality over quantity”, he constantly called it during the debate.
“When that kind of word play arises, you have to be very careful. It sounds very logical, but also quantitatively we have a number of challenges in the region, the total number of jobs has been under considerable pressure in recent times,” says Out. “If he says: I want to offer qualitative solutions, I think it’s great that that is his intention, but then I also hope that he will show what he actually means by that.”
Van der Maat hinted at the arrival of other government services. Out is cynical about that. “Experience to date shows that it is not easy to actually achieve that,” he says. According to the mayor, conversations from the past offer little hope for the relocation of the government services to Drenthe. “Maybe he surprises me, but I have yet to see it.”