Dutch govt. to axe 10,000 military jobs in austerity drive

The Dutch government said on Thursday it will cut 10,000 defence ministry jobs as part of austerity measures to reduce the budget deficit.

The decision makes one in every seven to lose job in the defence ministry. The ministry employs about 68,000 people currently.

Fundamental choices needed to be made because of a shortage of funds for the military, stressing that the available budget fell short of the military's ambitions,” said an Economics Times report quoting Hans Hillen, Dutch defence minister.

The new coalition government in the Netherlands plans to reduce the budget deficit by 18 billion euros ($24.5 billion) to 269.8 billion euros ($377 billion) in 2015. It aims to reduce defence expenditure by 200 million euros ($273 million) in 2011 alone.

However, the new Dutch government plans to send a training mission to Afghanistan. In August, the previous administration ended its military mission in Afghanistan, pulling troops out of the country after four years of deployment.

There are storms ahead. Given the large financial challenges the military faces in coming years, intervention in all units of the military organisation, including management and the operational domain, is inevitable, the ministry said.