Toespraak minister Brekelmans bij Paris Defence and Strategy Forum
Het forum vond plaats van 11 to 13 maart 2025. De toespraak is alleen beschikbaar in het Engels.
Good morning, dear colleagues, generals and admirals, ladies and gentlemen.
It’s good to be here together in Paris.I would like to thank the French Republic, and my valued French colleague and friend, Minister Lecornu for inviting me to this important forum.
As you rightly state, Europe stands at a crossroads. The threat posed by Russia is only growing.
The United States has made it clear that its support for Ukraine is no longer a given. And Europe’s decades-long reliance on the US cannot be simply taken for granted anymore – instead it must be earned.
Europe therefore needs to fortify its own security architecture. And we don’t have much time to get this right; we only have 1 shot.
The 80 years of freedom that both our countries have enjoyed, are no guarantee for future freedom. We have to achieve peace through strength; peace through resilience; peace through partnerships.
Let me start with ‘partnerships’. During the Second World War, American soldiers crossed an ocean to help Europeans in our fight for freedom. NATO was established in 1949 to prevent future wars through unified strength.
Nowadays, when I walk towards the entrance of NATO HQ, I pass a large piece of the Berlin wall on my left: a symbol of the Cold War ending. To my right, I see a twisted and mangled piece of steel from the Twin Towers, a reminder of 9/11; of our American allies asking for our help, and European allies answering that call; and a reminder of the many soldiers who served in Afghanistan, and for me a particular reminder of the 25 Dutch soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan.
I cannot help but wonder what relics of war will come to stand next to these, 5 or 10 years from now. Will it be a piece of concrete from an apartment building in Charkiv? Will it be a section of internet cable from the North Sea?
It’s impossible to predict.What I do already know, is that our actions in these coming days and weeks, will be crucial in shaping those next 5 or 10 years.
I applaud the fact that France is showing strong leadership together with the UK as we discuss what we could deliver in terms of safety guarantees for Ukraine. I also want to express my gratitude for President Macron’s invitation to all EU Chiefs of Defence.
Europe is at a crossroads, and France is stepping up to make sure we move in the right direction. We need to keep supporting Ukraine so that their citizens can enjoy a just and lasting peace.
President Zelensky should not have to agree to a deal that would result in some sort of interbellum, with aggression constantly looming on the horizon. He needs to negotiate from a position of strength.
Allow me to now elaborate on how I see ‘peace through strength’.
Europe can be stronger than we sometimes think.We should not downplay our relevance in the current geopolitical reshuffle of power.
Europe can be a force to be reckoned with; economically, militarily, morally, culturally. Let’s not be too modest about that.
The European Union has over 27 member states, each with different cultures and histories. And yet we all choose to go in the same direction: combined, we spent more on financial, military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine than the United States.
And we have strong partners who join us in this direction, such as the UK and Norway. Almost 450 million people live in the European Union, and around 142 million people live in Russia.
Our combined GDP is 5 times larger than that of Russia. EC President Von der Leyen recently proposed to spend €800 billion in defence investments over the next decade.
We have to get over our inferiority complex. We are more powerful than we think.And we will need that power.
Putin has made it very clear that Ukraine is not his final stop on his campaign to the imperial past. He will continue his aggressive efforts to increase the influence and territory of the Russian empire; towards his dream to re-establish the Russkiy Mir, a Russian world.A dream for Putin, a nightmare for the rest of Europe.
It’s time we let Putin wake up to the fact that his dreams do not coincide with reality. He thought he would take over Ukraine in 3 days.3 years later, he’s nowhere near that goal.And with the current speed of progress, it will take 300 years to take over Ukraine.
Putin claims he is the voice of the people. But after his invasion of Ukraine, almost a million Russians fled their home country; a resounding message of no confidence.
The rest of Putin’s citizens don’t want to fight his war either. He has to import soldiers from North Korea.
On top of that, Russia’s economy is running dry. And while he had hoped to divide Europe, we’ve built bridges faster, stronger and more expansive than ever.
Together, we support Ukraine in the fight for freedom. So that they can live in an open democracy, with a rule of law and freedom of expression.
Putin is afraid of these values. So afraid, that he is jailing opponents… hiding them away in work camps… or silencing them in other ways.
But no matter how brutal this war his gotten: Ukrainians can’t be silenced. They can’t be forced into submission.
Ukrainians are fighting at the front line of our freedom and security against Russian tyranny and aggression. It’s the frontline of the freedom and security of Europa, and also of France and the Netherlands.That’s why our support to Ukraine needs to be unwavering.
The Netherlands has allocated over 10.5 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine; and we will be adding an additional 3.5 billion euros for 2026.We will not let Ukraine down. On the contrary, we will accelerate our support.We will keep standing; and we will do so together.
In the Second World War, France and the Netherlands fought side by side. Last June, our King commemorated the D-Day landings in Normandy alongside your president.
You all know how intense the battles were following the Normandy landings. So many of our soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice.French and Dutch soldiers fought and died side by side on numerous battlefields, united by a common goal: to liberate Europe from tyranny.
To this day, we are grateful for the French contribution to our freedom in the Netherlands. French soldiers fought bravely to defend our country from occupation during the liberation of the the Netherlands.The hard-fought victory ultimately led to a free Europe.
It was a price paid in blood, and many soldiers never returned home. It was the price of freedom, the freedom we enjoy until this very day.
France and the Netherlands were both part of the group of visionary countries that laid the groundwork for our European security architecture. The most well-known visionary, Robert Schuman, had fought in the Second World War himself.
The EU and NATO were born out of a desire for lasting peace on the basis of our common values. In more modern times, too, the Netherlands has stood side by side with France to defend our values.
On the Eastern flank, our forces operated under French command in Romania. We served together in numerous other conflict zones to defend freedom and democracy against terrorism.And let’s not forget the Balkans and Kosovo.
We also continue to defend freedom of trade in the Red Sea within the European operation ASPIDES.And we represent the freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait.
But these times call for an even greater effort. And we must all rise to the occasion.We cannot allow aggression and imperialism to prevail; and lose freedom and democracy.The goal in Ukraine is peace through strength.
But before we know it, Putin’s army could be knocking on our doors on another front. Whether it be in the Baltic States, Georgia or Moldova.
Already, he’s setting the stage for other invasions. Our military intelligence service has estimated it would take Russia a year to move around a significant number of its troops.
So imagine 1 year after a peace deal with Ukraine, Russia moving hundreds of thousands of its troops to the border with the Baltic states.Holding a large military exercise; with us only knowing 1 week in advance whether this truly is only an exercise or rather the preparations for a large-scale attack.We should be prepared for this scenario, and reinforce our deterrence.
Right now, in France and the Netherlands, we do not live in war, but not in peace either. We are living in a grey zone, between war and peace.
Both our countries experience daily cyber-attacks on our hospitals, police and universities. We experience espionage and preparations of sabotage, with Russian ships mapping our wind parks and undersea internet cables.Russian trolls flood the internet with lies and disinformation.
We may not be at war with Russia, but Russia is at war with us – a hybrid war.A hybrid car at the end of the day is… a car. The same is true for a hybrid war.
We should be capable of defending ourselves in both a hybrid war and a kinetic one. But the responsibility for a safe Europe rests not only on the shoulders of our men and women in uniform. Defence is one piece of the puzzle; society and industry are the other pieces.
That leads me to ‘peace through resilience’.
Just increasing our Defence spending is not enough. Defending our freedom and democracy is a task for society as a whole.
We will have to be more resilient to the disruptive effects of modern-day threats, such as internet disruptions, power failures and our drinking water system being hacked. This includes becoming more self-reliant in those first hours or days of a crisis.That’s true for individual households, but also for companies and other organisations.
But it is not only practical; there’s also a mental aspect.Civilians need to be able to respond to any crisis with perseverance, not panic.
Meanwhile, at the government level, we must adapt legislation to be fit for purpose not only in peacetime and war, but also in the grey zone. To be able to reinforce our resilience; to grow our militaries; to work side by side as civilians and military; and to be able to speed up our processes;
We should take away legislation that is standing in the way of the growth of our military. We should do this both on the national and European level.
In the Netherlands, certain EU environmental legislation prevents the military from conducting exercises and from expanding our bases;And of course the environment is important and should be protected,but Putin won’t be deterred by a sign warning him that he’s about to enter a nature reserve.
Also, the EU should cut the red tape preventing us from going faster and being better than any adversary. Legislative exemptions for Defence must be made across the board, in order for our militaries to grow and be ready.In order to achieve this, we call for a European Defence Readiness Act.
Furthermore, we need to rapidly increase military production.Europe has already taken steps in the right direction, but much more needs to be done.
We have united ourselves in supporting Ukraine and creating funds for Defence spending. Our industry is picking up.In just 3 years, Dutch defence industry turnover has nearly doubled – from 4.7 billion euros in 2021 to 9.3 billion euros in 2024.
With around 900 defence companies, we are a substantial player in Europe.And we are working together with Ukraine to develop advanced weapon systems, such as the newest types of drones.
I must say that I admire France’s strong defence industry; you are one of the key players in Europe.
Minister Lecornu, during your New Year’s address, you mentioned with understandable pride, that in 2024 the French defense industry exported goods to a value of approximately 18 billion euros. A substantial part of that spending, I believe, came from the Netherlands.
It speaks to our ties, our friendship, and the way we view France as a strategic partner, now and in the future. Your impressive strategic autonomy in terms of a defence industrial basis is paying off.
We are looking forward to seeing our submarines being built by Naval Group, in close cooperation with Dutch suppliers. Our Special Forces helicopters, the Caracals, are manufactured in France too.Our mine counter measures vessels are being built in Bretagne.
Let’s make sure we do what is necessary to massively ramp up military production in Europe. Because despite all our efforts, it is not enough.Prices and delivery times are going up, while volume should be going up.We need to aggregate our demand, turn this into long term contracts for the industry, and take away any barriers delaying production.
Sometimes, this means we need to transcend our national interests.If we make sure we grow the European pie, I am sure all 27 countries will have a piece that is much larger than we have now, with more jobs, higher revenue and greater innovation.
We need to invest and innovate in all domains, including space. Allow me to offer a Latin equivalent for the free and responsible use of the space domain: Spatium Liberum.
In this domain, we’re witnessing many instances of Maskirovka - Russian military deception: spoofing, jamming, ‘accidental’ explosions and collisions. It is clear that while we would like to adhere to the Spatium Liberum principle, our adversaries increasingly and blatantly violate it.We need to take a giant leap in this domain to strengthen our military capabilities, reinforce our deterrence, and increase our resilience.
France, as a leader in space exploration and technology, plays a key role in this effort.Innovation in the space domain is a game changer for Ukraine.
Europe needs to step up its game. Because Europe is striving for more open strategic autonomy – in all defence domains.It is up to us to show our friends and foes that we are willing to fight for our values.
A strong Europe is the only real guarantee of peace on the continent. Of course, the US remains an essential ally.But we cannot assume that the US will support us as they have done in the past.
We have to take action as a united Europe now. Our strengths combined can make a difference.
I want to applaud France’s effort for a free and strong Europe. You’ve always been forward leaning; you dare to be bold, to be courageous.
Ladies and gentlemen,
While standing at these crossroads, we need to take the right path towards lasting peace, so that our 80 years of freedom can be extended to a 100 years and many more, for generations to come. We need to achieve peace through strength, resilience and partnerships.
And I am glad that the Netherlands and France are working as close friends and strong allies.Our national motto is – not coincidentally – in French:‘Je maintiendrai’. ‘I will uphold’.
Every Dutch person has it on their passport. Many Dutch servicemen and women wear it on their arm.
To me it is a reminder that we need to uphold the values and principles we hold so dear: freedom, open democracy, sovereignty, the rule of law.
In other words: nous maintiendrons. Merci.