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THE GOVERNMENT HAS A PLAN: Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) and Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen with Norwegian soldiers in Lithuania in September. On Friday they will present a revised version of the long-term plan of the Armed Forces. Photo: Helge Mikalsen, VG
According to the Defense Minister, the government will meet NATO’s two percent target now in 2020. But those who expect more money in the updated long-term plan for Defense will be disappointed.
The government now sends a new version of the long-term plan of the Armed Forces to the Storting, following the opposition sent the plan in exchange to the government in May.
– The framework is the same as the plan we presented earlier this year: NOK 16.5 billion more for the Armed Forces over the next eight years. The Storting did not ask for more money, but for a clearer plan, Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen (H) tells VG.
– If the Storting wants more capabilities in the Armed Forces, they must also be willing to finance it, he adds.
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It exceeds two percent of GDP
The reason Norway is exceeding NATO’s common goal of spending two percent of GDP on defense is not that the defense budget is increasing. But that the Norwegian economy is contracting in the crown crisis:
– Already in 2020, and in 2021, we will be above two percent of GDP. Unfortunately, says Bakke-Jensen.
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Sent in exchange
In mid-April, the government sent its original long-term plan for the Armed Forces to the Storting. But instead of the “usual” four-year plan, the Storting now has a long-term plan that extends eight years forward.
The FRP, which moved from government to opposition in January, signed an agreement with the Labor Party, the Socialist People’s Party and the Socialist People’s Party on seven specific demands on the government, packaged up the plan and sent it back to Bakke-Jensen.
It had never happened before.
The common denominator was that the plan was too weak, too unspecific and left too little defense.
Concrete plane
Now Bakke-Jensen believes he has met the requirements:
– The long-term plan has been given a specific schedule with which the investments will be made, he says.
In four years, the staffing will increase by 550 employees and 700 recruits.
– We will increase the defense budget by an average of NOK 2.1 billion every year for eight years. It is a significant investment, says the defense minister.
Here is the government’s detailed plan for the Armed Forces, as published in the Armed Forces long-term plan on Friday.
– I have no problem saying that we would like to increase our staff further. But that presupposes that we can offer them education and that we have the money to equip them, he adds.
Bakke-Jensen argues that even if the plan isn’t bigger now, it’s at least clearer and more detailed than the one the Storting sent in return.
– It is absolutely essential that we maintain the balance between ambition and financing, he says.
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Boat plan in 2022
But the government now comes to the Storting with the promise of a faster plan to renovate the Navy’s surface vessels and thus also replace the frigate “Helge Ingstad” that was lost in a shipwreck in 2018.
The Navy ships will be upgraded in anticipation of new submarines and eventually new vessels that will replace current coastal frigates and corvettes.
– In the plan that was presented this spring, we said that the report should be ready during the four-year period. Now he says we will come to the Storting with a proposal for a new ship structure in 2022, says the Defense Minister.
The government wants a new boat project in the Norwegian Navy to take advantage of Norwegian maritime technology and shipyards. At the same time, Bakke-Jensen sees the weakness in the fact that the various Navy ships are renewed at roughly the same time, and therefore also age at the same time.
