Belgium: The defense budget lacks transparency

UPDATE The Ministry of Defence has made progress in its budget presentation, but did not sufficiently take into account the comments made by the Court of Auditors considers this institution in its comments on the section devoted to the defense in the draft 2013 budget of the Federal Government.

The Court has repeatedly stated in previous reports, that the distribution of the appropriations entered in this section "does not match the standards of budget programs", which aims to bind the loans granted by parliament - 2710000000 euros this year for defense - specific objectives.

Minimal changes

These observations led Defence to "make a number of changes in the presentation of the initial budget of the year 2012, recognized by the Court of Auditors - by opening a" nation assistance "to" isolate tasks that are not specifically military missions. "Similarly, the department has" broken "part of the appropriations staff in several programs budget."

But these changes did however reach a "limited", so that the earlier remarks "remain current in their entirety," said the Court of Auditors.

Fuzzy

It therefore considers that the allocation of funds for basic allowances practiced by the Defence "offers an image of insufficient allocation needs" department. This note focuses on personnel costs referred to as "subsistence" (salaries and allowances of military and civilian personnel) and operation - for amounts of € 172.8 million covering "costs varied between seemingly unrelated them "and 42.2 million. This represents 36.5% of the total operating costs of the department.

"Such groups of loans are likely to make less clear the extent of the budgetary authorization by parliament," said the Court of Auditors.

Lack of respect for Parliament

MPs Wouter De Vriendt (Groen) and Juliette Boulet (Ecolo), who took note of this report, denounced Tuesday the lack of transparency from the Defence Minister Pieter De Crem (CD & V), and announced their intention to interview Wednesday in committee in the House.

"The lack of transparency Minister De Crem shows little respect for Parliament," noted the two environmentalists elected in a statement.

According to them, this is not the first time that the Court of Auditors formula such remarks. "Every year, Mr De Crem been criticism that class" without result in "learning from insufficient", say two deputies.

BELGIUM A plan to restore balance to the Army Language

    The Working Group of the House for two years on board the "linguistic balance" within the army on Wednesday approved, majority against opposition (who abstained), recommendations asking "tend towards equilibrium "between the French and Dutch officers to the highest positions in the military hierarchy. For the FDF, it does nothing to change the situation.

    These recommendations made by the majority, but deemed insufficient by the FDF and exaggerated by the Vlaams Belang and the N-VA, is the requirement of increased consolidation efforts between the two linguistic roles "as well in the lower grades and above "and in international organizations.

    The Working Group also considers that the Defence must generally "continue to strive for (a division of) 60% of Dutch soldiers and 40% of French military" - which is the size of the two communities.

    "For officers, the knowledge of both national languages ​​must remain a basic requirement to enter into consideration for promotion to a higher grade," added the recommendations, which also advocated strengthening the learning of both national languages "so immersive."

    The Working Group recommends that, wherever possible, a "gradual appreciation" of the bilingualism bonus for all categories of military personnel.

    The defense minister also asked to report on the situation each year, as stipulated in a 1938 law on the use of languages ​​in the army to allow the House to "continue to follow transparent and constructive manner the evolution of language distribution in the army. "

    These recommendations will now be forwarded to the Defence Committee for approval, then to the plenary of the House. "There is an agreement not to reopen the debate" at both levels, said MP George Dallemagne (CDH), causing a release in the work of the working group.

    And the majority had agreed two weeks ago to erase the document the findings, which stood a picture of the linguistic situation - contrast - the army, where the proportion of Dutch increases with rank, with only 28% of French generals. While in the lower grades, the deficit is on the Dutch.

    With these recommendations, the French believe they have obtained recognition of the existence of an imbalance for the highest functions, while the Flemish deputies - Gerald Kindermans (CD & V), Luk Van Biesen (Open Vld) and David Geerts (sp . a) - evoke the character "cyclic" this imbalance.

    This working group was set up two years ago at the request of French-speaking parties as a result of comments made in October 2010 by the former base commander of Florennes, Colonel Luc Gennart now retired, who had denounced "Flemishization" army before entering politics in the MR.

    Meanwhile, the issue has been the subject of an agreement between the six-party coalition government.The government statement team Di Rupo first stipulates that "respect for the linguistic balance within the army will be a constant concern of government."

    But the MP Denis Ducarme (MR) has recently threatened to withdraw its confidence in Defence Minister Pieter De Crem (CD & V) in case of non respect of this text and re-appointment of generals who would not in the sense of a catch (the linguistic balance), asserting that this was the position of all the MR.

    An agreement that will not change for Damien Thiery (FDF)

    Damien Thiery asks: "If the working group was unable to agree on a report containing the findings of the hearings and a year and a half of work and discussions, how could he make a series of recommendations on objective and verified? ".

    MP FDF is surprised at the satisfaction of the majority, including MR, have garnered an agreement on measures called "concrete", which according to him are not because they do not have the force of law.Damien Thiery questioned the scope of these measures with the Defence Minister Pieter De Crem.

    For him, nothing has been resolved and the linguistic imbalance remains present.

Belgium wants to allow private guards. Unions reluctant military

The project of the Belgian government to allow private military companies on board merchant vessels transiting the national Indian Ocean does not raise the accession of all the military and some questions from MPs. " The government has put the finger in a gear that will be very dangerous and problematic, despite the strict measures that have been taken , "says the union and military defense CGSP (socialist).They fear that once approved, these private companies become economically indispensable, even if piracy disappeared from the Somali coast. With budget cuts in the naval component of the army, " the next government will have no choice but to extend authorizations (private guards) , and even multiply . "Ultimately, it is feared that the CGSP budgetary difficulties constitute an argument against the involvement of the Belgian defense in anti-piracy, as is now the Louise-Marie off the Indian Ocean .

One team turned military since 2009

While the government has proposed to merchant ships to embark a team of military protection board VPD ( Vessel Protection Detachments ). But three years ago, this possibility has not been activated once. it is true that a certain cost to shipowners - 115,000 euros - and they prefer to use the services of private companies. For Defence Minister Pieter De Crem (CD & V, Flemish Christian Democrat, the problem is budgetary priorities ... and as he said in a response to Georges Dallemagne, Senator CDH (Francophone Christian Democrats) early November. " Unlike the French defense, we do not have equipment, weapons and ammunition in the areas concerned. transport by air and therefore costly Belgian shipowners require to be able to call security companies private. "

Towards legalization of private guards

The Belgian government has submitted to the office of the Chamber of Deputies in October, two draft law authorizing the use of private security guards in a legislative framework. Geographically, their use is strictly limited to the Somali coast. And the companies concerned must show their credentials both in terms of their personnel, their equipment or their experience in maritime security.

1200th F-16 rolls out SABCA's Flight Line

F-16 Aircraft Depot-Level MRO : S.A.B.C.A. (Charleroi Belgium) delivers its 1200th F-16.

Last Monday, like several times a month, the S.A.B.C.A. flight line crew succesfully delivered an F16 aircraft to one of its customer Air Forces :  this time the Belgian Air Component  received back a single-seater F-16, freshly upgraded by the highly skilled technicians of the company to the latest M5 Avionics standards.

"Business as usual" for these people who already proceeded with 29 similar deliveries since the beginning of the year... with the noticeable difference that this A/C was exactly the 1200th F-16 to roll out S.A.B.C.A.'s flight Line since 26 january 1979, when the very first production F-16 was delivered to the Belgian Air Force.

S.A.B.C.A. started its common history with the F-16 more than 30 years ago, by the assembly and in-flight delivery of 222 new F-16 A/C, on behalf of three different end-users.

Since then, S.A.B.C.A. Charleroi became a global key-player for the Depot-level maintenance and upgrade of F-16 aircraft, serving nine different F-16 customers around the world.

Beside the continuous support to Belgium's and other European’s  F-16 fleets, S.A.B.C.A. ensures the Depot-Level MRO of the USAF F-16 operated in the European theater. The choice made last year by the US Government to extend for another 5 years its co-operation with SABCA demonstrates S.A.B.C.A.'s abilities to provide accurate, on-time, competitive answers to the most demanding requirements.

S.A.B.C.A.'s undisputed leadership in F-16 Depot-Level Support in Europe is strengthened by a State-of-the Art F-16 wings repair shop, relying on in-house detailed wing parts manufacturing capability.