Belgian and Dutch naval cooperation not compromised after all

The Dutch government is not, after all, going to sell its two M-frigates despite earlier, conflicting reports. N-VA Member of Parliament Bert Maertens believes this is good news for the Belgian navy: "Now Belgium and the Netherlands can continue to jointly maintain their M-frigates and keep on working in a cost-effective manner." In 2007 and 2008 the Belgian navy bought two of the original eight Dutch M-Frigates and it was mutually agreed to work together to maintain them. The Netherlands intended to keep two frigates and sell the others. However, a few weeks ago it seemed as though the Netherlands also wanted to sell its last two ships, meaning that Belgium would have had to maintain the frigates alone. Our navy would view this as a precedent whereby effective military cooperation between both countries would be compromised. The fact that the sale is not going ahead is excellent news in the N-VA’s view. The Dutch navy is also examining the best way cooperation with Belgium (as well as Germany and the United Kingdom) can be intensified with regards to mine sweeping capacity at sea.