News item | 12-12-2025 | 2:45 PM
Geopolitical developments and climate change increase the chance of an emergency. Everyone therefore receives the information booklet, but in addition, hard work is being done nationally and regionally to increase social resilience and military preparedness. This requires a government-wide and society-wide approach. The government, together with various parties, has made concrete progress in recent months to strengthen our country’s resilience.
Minister Van Oosten of Justice and Security: “Whether it concerns the government, companies, social organizations or citizens: each of us plays a crucial role in preparing the Netherlands for the challenges we may encounter in the future. That is why it is important that we now take the steps government-wide to make the Netherlands resilient.”
Minister Brekelmans of Defense: “We live in a gray zone between peace and war. Threats are getting closer. Russia is trying to disrupt our society and cause unrest. We must prevent that and require action from everyone. With this letter we explain those actions. Not out of fear, but to stand strong together. This is how we keep the Netherlands safe.”
State Secretary Tuinman of Defense: “Military readiness depends on sufficient people, the right equipment and space to grow. We invest in additional personnel, accelerate the influx and exercises are conducted more often and on a larger scale. New weapons and modern systems make our units ready for combat again. Because a ready armed forces and resilient society deter the enemy.”
Various ministries in charge
The joint efforts of government and society form the basis for a future-proof and resilient Netherlands. Over the past period, the government has taken important steps to strengthen our country’s resilience, through concrete measures that are aimed not only at the government, but also at the business community, the healthcare sector and society as a whole.
With the national Think Forward campaign and the information booklet, an important step has been taken to prepare the Dutch and make them resilient. But hard work is also being done to strengthen implementing organizations and vital sectors and make them more resilient. The resilience challenge is a complex task. Because not everything can be done at the same time, the steps take place in different phases. The various ministries are busy making the sectors more resilient:
- The Ministry of Justice and Security is working on emergency support points with the help of municipalities and security regions.
- The Ministry of Defense is strengthening military preparedness. Large-scale exercises are being conducted more often (also in the Netherlands), the defense budget is increasing and the armed forces are growing. Defense also provides Dutch assistance when social partners request it.
- The Ministry of Economic Affairs is working on the resilience of companies through meetings for the business community in collaboration with VNO NCW and will launch a resilience campaign for the business community in 2026.
- The Ministries of Infrastructure and Water Management, of Climate and Green Growth and of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature are all working on updating the crisis plans in the field of food security, drinking water, electricity and gas.
- The healthcare infrastructure and emergency care capacity are being strengthened by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
- The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is committed to protecting our heritage such as archives and monuments, so that they are not used in a conflict, but remain part of our national identity.
- The Ministry of Finance is working to guarantee financial services, including payment and securities transactions.
- The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations protects the democratic constitutional state and legal order, strengthens government services and works on structural cooperation in the field of resilience between the government, municipalities, provinces and water boards.
Defense: more personnel and equipment
Efforts are underway to strengthen military preparedness, the deployability of the armed forces and cooperation with NATO partners. By investing in more personnel, equipment and resources, the capacity of the armed forces is increased so that it can respond better to threats. The introduction of National Resilience Training and the National Space for Defense Program contribute to this.
The government embraces the new NATO standard whereby the defense budget will grow to 3.5% of GDP towards 2035, plus 1.5% for defense and security-related expenditure. Next year, the defense budget will increase by €3.4 billion to €26.8 billion. About half of this is invested in new equipment, including counterdrone systems. Defense is thus building a deployable and scalable armed force that is prepared for a variety of threats, can deter and, if necessary, can fight and win. Defense does not do this alone, but in collaboration with civilian parties. Steps are therefore being taken on important topics such as infrastructure and logistics, healthcare and energy to ensure support for the armed forces and to strengthen cooperation.
Think further ahead
Looking to the future, further steps will be taken to strengthen social resilience. This requires continuous cooperation and effort from all involved. Only by working together can we properly prepare for the challenges of the future and continue to guarantee the security and stability of the Netherlands.
The outgoing cabinet therefore remains committed to strengthening resilience, with the confidence that this joint approach will make the Netherlands stronger for the future.