The Dutch government said on Friday it would cut about 12,000 jobs from its 68.000 staff at the ministry of defense and scale back its fleet of tanks and fighter jets to save about 1 billion euros as part of an austerity push to cut the budget deficit.
The cuts are part of a broader plan to slash 18 billion euros from the state budget and bring the deficit back below 3 percent of GDP, a government spokeswoman said.
The defense ministry said it would scrap two tank battalions and reduce the number of F-16 fighter jets to 68 from 87. New ships ordered by the Navy which are coming out of the shipyards in the coming years will be sold. To save additional costs the Dutch and Belgian naval forces will be working together to eliminate overlapping activities and promote further integration among other EU naval forces.
The Dutch government policy analysis bureau CPB last month forecast the Netherlands Government budget deficit would be 3.7 percent of GDP in 2011, falling to 2.2 percent in 2012. In comparison: the Greek, Spanish and British budget deficits presently stand at 10 percent of GDP, Ireland 9.4%, the US 8.9 %, Portugal 8.5%, France 6.5 %, Italy 5%, Turkey 3.6%, and Germany 2.5 %.
EU-Digest
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