Proposition 54K2683

Proposition de résolution concernant l'évolution et la modernisation du cadre de réserve des forces armées.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Hendrik Bogaert
MR Benoît Friart, Kattrin Jadin, Damien Thiéry

Submission date

Sept. 28, 2017

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

armed forces reserve army military personnel resolution of parliament

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI Open Vld MR PP VB

Abstained from voting

∉ N-VA PVDA | PTB

Party dissidents ¶

• Peter Luykx (CD&V) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

April 4, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

By Mr Tim Vandenput, rapporteur, verwijst naar zijn schriftelijk verslag.

This very important debate takes place in the context of the modernization of the Reserve Framework of the Armed Forces. For this purpose, auditions were organized. They led us to elaborate certain provisions contained in this proposal for a resolution.

As we saw that the army suffered from a recruitment deficit, it seemed to us that the flame of commitment had to be revived. This issue must be a priority for the next government and, therefore, for the next Minister of Defense.

I would like to highlight the exemplary commitment of these men and women within the National Reserve. This choice honors them, insofar as they are committed to serving their country in a heavily threatened context. It is obviously not an easy task to engage in such circumstances. Reservists have a personal and professional life that is already well filled. They spend a lot of time and energy devoting themselves to the defense of the nation. We can only congratulate. However, there are a few questions. What is our design of the reserve? In what context are these men and women committed to our country? Is the reserve framework still relevant to our security needs? Could it represent a gateway to a professional military career?

These questions are directly or indirectly reflected in our proposal for a resolution. The reservist policy must clearly change scale so that our professional army can fulfill all its commitments and meet the needs of citizens. This is the feeling that emerged from the hearings and debates. This resulted in a consensual vote.

Of course, it will be necessary that the reserve, based on the principle of volunteering, be a military component perfectly integrated with the active army and be experienced as such. Between fiction and reality, the difference is huge.

It is necessary that we also have, through the reservists, a Defense at the service of our country, and that there is only one Defense, whether through the professional military or the reservists.

Mr. Speaker, I think that the ambition of this resolution is first and foremost to provide a series of good ideas to implement in the next legislature.

I mentioned that this should be voluntary. It is necessary to maintain a military dimension, but also a civil dimension, to the reserve function, with a logic of subordination between the military in active service and the reservists.

We took back a fundamental element that we perceived in our debates, targeting a series of professions with sharp technical skills, which are currently lacking in Defense.

The reserve as such only makes sense if its primary mission is to participate in the security of the national territory and to help citizens. The central objective will therefore remain to associate citizens with the National Defense, indispensable since the suspension of military service. Reflections on the reserve do not question the transition to a professional army. Behind this central goal, and that will be my conclusion, we will have to be careful to maintain this strong link between the army and the nation, as we have seen during the OVG mission.

The reserve, whose powers would be expanded, will also be a committed citizen, carrying civic values, strengthening national unity and integration. I think that the resolution proposal, which will gather consensus in the plenary session, as was the case in the committee, is also a strong signal sent to the reservists today: a confidence in their commitment, and the fact that this topic will be a major concern of the next government agreement. I hope everyone will pay attention to this. I thank you for your attention.

Mr. President, I thank you.

This text on the modernization of the army reserve is the first of a series of texts that follow on the agenda.

My group supports all these texts because they follow a series of hearings. They therefore correspond to a demand from the social partners and to real needs that could be developed and analyzed in a committee.

Regarding Resolution No. 2683, I simply wanted to add two comments to those made by my colleague.

First, the reserve principle allows the involvement, in Defense, of persons leading a career, both in the private and in the public. These reservists work, in particular, in the cyber defence sector where, therefore, our intelligence services side by side with reservists from the private sector. I therefore find it important that, when implementing the resolution, we pay the utmost care to ensure that, when recruiting reservists, incompatibilities are clearly established and that issues of conflict of interest and security authorisations are dealt with very scrupulously. Cyber defense is a sensitive issue like many others.

Next, I would like to emphasize here the importance of the agreement of all colleagues, except those of the N-VA, on the amendment that I was able to submit regarding the origin of terrorist threats. In my view, this is a symbolic but strong parliamentary act: that of targeting all forms of threats and extremism that can lead to terrorist acts. For if we want to fight terrorism today, we must remove the eyelids that would consist of concerning only one type of threats: those related to jihadism. Unfortunately, the causes of terrorist violence also nest on the side of supremacists whatever they are. Just think of the Christchurch shooting perpetrated by a New Zealander feeding on the extremist right-wing theses.

In our country, the State Security has repeatedly expressed its concerns and concerns about extremist right-wing or extremist-inspired groups calling for the division of the population and more or less explicitly for acts of violence on our territory. We all remember the report that revealed Schild & Vrienden whose leader is, by the way, head of list of a party member of this Parliament for the next election.

Through this amendment, supported by all colleagues, except those of the N-VA, we give ourselves the means to adapt our counter-terrorism strategies to the entire spectrum of threats and we also contribute, I hope, to limit the stigmatisation of a single group of citizens sometimes linked, in the wounded imagination of our compatriots, to jihadists.