The Foreign Affairs Committee will debate on Wednesday, 11 March from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM about the deployment of the air defense and command frigate Zr. Ms Evertsen in the Mediterranean Sea due to the situation in the Middle East. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs Tom Berendsen and Defence Dilan Yesilgöz will come to the House of Representatives for this. The debate will conclude in the plenary session. You can follow the debate live via Debat Direct.

The deployment of the frigate and the crew is done based on Article 100 of the Constitution and will in principle last until early April. This article states, among other things, that if the government decides to deploy Dutch military personnel in international crisis management operations, it must inform the House by letter. This letter was sent by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Tom Berendsen and Defence Dilan Yesilgöz on 4 March. 

Technical briefing

Subsequently, the Foreign Affairs Committee takes the lead in handling this letter and debates the deployment with the involved ministers. The committee was informed before the debate through a technical briefing on Tuesday, 10 March. Officials from both ministries informed the members of parliament about the details of the mission. 

Plenary conclusion

The committee debate on 11 March will have a plenary conclusion. This way, members of parliament can immediately submit motions and vote on them. 

Dutch partners

In a letter to the House dated 9 March, Berendsen and Yesilgöz write that the situation in the Middle East since the start of the American and Israeli attacks on Iran, and the subsequent Iranian attacks on targets in the Middle East, remains unabatedly concerning. Iranian attacks, but also those of armed groups affiliated with Iran, have affected not only the directly involved Israel but also a large number of other Dutch partners in the region. Namely the Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman), Iraq, Jordan, and Azerbaijan, according to the ministers.

Defence 

France sent the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Mediterranean Sea in early March. The aircraft carrier is part of a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) of which the Netherlands is also part with the frigate. France requested the Netherlands to contribute and deploy Zr. Ms Evertsen to defend the CSG, Cyprus, and allies in the region. “With this deployment, the Netherlands shows allied solidarity and contributes to European cooperation in the context of protecting the international legal order,” according to the letter to the House.  

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