Toespraak van staatssecretaris Boswijk bij het Nordic-Baltic Embassy Working
Deze toespraak is alleen beschikbaar in het Engels.
Hello everyone, it’s a pleasure to join you today to talk about ‘the State of Affairs in the Netherlands in 2026’. I’ll get to our ‘state of affairs’ in a few minutes, but I would like to start with you.
You see, 2 years ago, when I was a member of Dutch Parliament, I travelled with Dutch armed forces to Lithuania for the NATO exercise Steadfast Defender. While we drove through Europe, I noticed something. In the Netherlands and in large parts of Germany, people were annoyed because our military convoy disturbed traffic. When we entered Poland, people started to respond more positively. In Poland people were happy to see us. In Lithuania, they were cheering.
They appreciated our support, because they are confronted by the Russian threat every day. And I know the same applies to all the Baltic and Nordic countries as well.
Everywhere I met Ukrainian delegations over the last years, they thanked us, just like you thanked us. I always replied, please don’t thank us. We should apologise. You’ve warned us for years. We thought we could change Russian minds, but we were wrong.
2 weeks ago, I visited Lithuania again to see the Dutch troops that are stationed in Rukla to contribute to the Multinational Battle Group. And I saw that the Russian threat has intensified in these 2 years: when the shadow fleet tries to cross our waters to circumvent sanctions when power and internet cables are cut and when fighter jets breach our airspace, as they did exactly 1 week ago in Estonia.
What also struck me is how well prepared you are in case a serious crisis happens.
The armed forces, the government and citizens are all alert, united and ready to defend themselves. There are many examples of the readiness of the Nordic and Baltic countries, but the fact that 2026 is ‘Total Defence Year’ in Norway says it all.
In Western Europe, it sometimes still feels as though society has only recently started to realise that the world has changed. That the Russian threat is real. That your borders are our borders. That other parts of the world are becoming increasingly hostile or unstable. And that we need to take more responsibility for our own protection.
You already know this very well, because you have been facing Russian hybrid warfare for over a decade. From the 4 Russian Tupolev bombers that simulated a nuclear attack on Sweden in 2013, and the review of Russia’s recognition of the Baltic states' independence in 2015 to the cynical abuse of refugees, when Russia forced thousands of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa to cross the Finnish and Norwegian borders in 2015 and 2016. In short, you have been on the receiving end of an adversary that has been testing how far it can go for a very long time.
Your reaction to these intimidation tactics has been impressive. Your response has been firm. You have boosted your own defences. You have boosted your defence industries. And you have boosted your societies. And you have sought strength in cooperation. With Finland and Sweden joining NATO. With Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania announcing to jointly build fortifications along their borders with Russia. And with the increasing coordination between the ‘Nordic-Baltic Eight’.
The purpose of these tighter bonds is simple yet effective: When our adversaries succeed in dividing us, we are weak. But when we stand together, we are much stronger. Today, I want to assure you that we understand and support this. Together we are strong.
That brings me to ‘The State of Affairs in the Netherlands in 2026’. And, more importantly, to what this means for you. As you know, a new government took office in the Netherlands last month. If I had to summarise this government’s defence priorities, it would be: Be realistic. Become stronger. Join forces.
Let me start with being realistic. The world has become more uncertain. Our peace and security can no longer be taken for granted. Ukraine needs our continued support, for as long as it takes. And protecting our free way of life in today’s world requires countries to work together much more. We need to become less dependent on countries outside Europe.
That takes me to the second Dutch defence priority: becoming stronger. We have significantly increased spending on buying and building more materiel, on innovation and on employing more people, and we will keep doing so by moving towards the NATO standard of 3.5% of GDP.
We are making progress towards our target of expanding our armed forces to beyond 100,000 military personnel. A growing number of businesses are partnering with us in encouraging their employees to serve as reservists. We are trying to recruit more women in the armed forces. We have launched a 10-week programme called the National Resilience Training, that gives people the opportunity to discover whether they have what it takes to join us. We have established Defensity College, where students can work for us 1 or 2 days a week, while continuing their studies. And we offer a Service Year, that allows young people who would otherwise take a gap-year to come and have a unique experience with us instead.
What’s more, we are significantly investing in innovation. From radar and satellites to the latest drone technology and much more.
And we are setting up a Defence Innovation Authority to help us develop and scale up new technology with companies and knowledge institutes. We are also working closely with industry to significantly increase our production of defence materiel. One example is Defport: a partnership between governments, knowledge institutes and a range of industries, including finance, high-tech, and, of course, the defence industry.
This partnership brings me to the third priority. We must join forces. To start, we want to intensify collaboration with our allies. That means you. For example, we cooperate with Sweden on CV90 combat vehicles. With Denmark on Special Operations Forces. And with Norway on F-35 fighter jets. We already work closely together, but I think we can do more. That’s also something I see as my personal task.
As a member of Parliament, I was personally committed to closer cooperation with the Nordic and Baltic countries. Now that I’m State Secretary for Defence, I will continue to seek opportunities to intensify our military cooperation.
Innovation and air defence immediately come to mind. And since all of you are front-runners in supporting Ukraine, we want to deepen that collaboration as well. Just like our work with all of you in the Joint Expeditionary Force. When we buy, develop, train and operate together, we become more united and thus create a more credible deterrent.
In the Netherlands, we also believe that a strong NATO benefits us all. We saw a clear example of that in your region last week. 32,000 armed forces from 14 different countries manoeuvred through ice and snow during the NATO exercise Cold Response. The exercise was enormous in scale, a great success, and from what I’ve heard, very cold.
Within NATO, the Netherlands also sees great potential in a strong European pillar. For example, we are championing ways for European countries to invest collectively in defence technology and equipment that is too expensive to buy individually. This kind of strategic cooperation can make our countries more autonomous and economically stronger.
And if we share information, it can also make us smarter. That is why we would like to intensify European cooperation in the field of intelligence and security services. Think of a European equivalent of Five Eyes.
Sharing information is also why we are here today. I greatly appreciate the opportunity you have given me to reaffirm our support for Ukraine, NATO as a whole, and to the security of the Baltic and Nordic states. And I can’t wait to hear more about the defence priorities of your countries. Let us try to tackle the challenges we are facing by sharing information and by working more closely together. Thank you.