The Netherlands provides 160 military personnel for the EU mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most will work in the Balkan country for a year in October.
The cabinet announced only last year that it wanted to send a larger contingent to Bosnia. The EU wants to expand the mission called Althea due to the increased tension in the region due to the war in Ukraine.
According to the cabinet, Russia and China are trying to increase their influence. Ministers Hoekstra (foreign affairs) and Ollongren (minister of defense) told the House of Representatives that “Russia is taking advantage of an unstable Bosnia and Herzegovina to prevent further rapprochement with the EU and NATO and increase its own influence in the Balkans.”
According to the cabinet, China has more economic interests. “China sees the Western Balkans as a gateway to Europe and is primarily economically active in the region.”
Marine Corps
The Cabinet will deploy a 150-strong Marine Corps to the region next fall. An intelligence unit of ten also goes to Bosnia; they are leaving in june Four Dutch officers are currently stationed there.
Between 1992 and 1995, a bloody war took place in the country. Dutch UN soldiers were in Srebrenica at the time. They were invaded by Bosnian Serb troops in 1995 and later killed 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. Dutchbat is stuck on an impossible mission, it was later said.
Minister Ollongren does not consider a new mission in the region sensitive to the Dutch armed forces. For him, in retrospect, it is particularly important to show that the international community cares about the region. “Just because of the story in which the Netherlands plays a part.”
Source: NOS

Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.