ICT-Chaos, name change in criminal cases and poor security Defense: Court of Audit warns of serious shortcomings at three ministries

Pieter Duisenberg has several uncomfortable groceries when offering the accountability survey 2024 to the House of Representatives.

With ‘only convenience,’ says the Court of Audit, President, his organization was able to invade commandors’, frigates and ammunition depots of Defense.

Namur had been changed in at least 867 criminal cases, after checking the books of the judiciary and security. As a result, perpetrators of moral and violent crimes can continue to walk around freely.

And the ministry that deals with diplomacy, Foreign Affairs, has no good view of its own financial obligations, due to a cramped IT system.

While Russia and Ukraine are at war on the eastern border of Europe and military support from the United States in NATO context, the Court of Audit signals problems with the three ministries about the safety of the Netherlands. What’s going on?

400 billion

Every third Wednesday in May, the Court of Audit presents an investigation into the books of the government. Where the plans of the cabinet are presented on Prinsjesdag, the central question is on accountability day (also known as a minced meat day): what will happen from the promises that politicians and cabinets make when you look at the annual accounts? And is the more than 400 billion euros in expenditure effective and efficient?

The conclusions this Wednesday, presented by Duisenberg in the Lower House, are hard. It appears to be difficult for the Court of Audit to find out how things are with the results of the previously agreed plans. With the goals that are clear, it appears that they are often not achieved.

The Court of Audit also sees a ‘vulnerable’ government in business operations, because the government promises the citizen much more than it can perform in practice. These problems are most serious at the Ministries of Justice and Security, Defense and Foreign Affairs.

Penetrate

At the Ministry of Defense, the security of locations and the safety awareness of employees is considerably short. Two years earlier, the Court of Audit reported about this, but safety was not yet in order last year.

« With the help of informed people at the Ministry of Defense, we were able to penetrate with some ease. We do not have to explain at this time how important this is, » says Duisenberg. Precise locations do not announce the Court of Audit because of safety.

In Foreign Affairs it is mainly about administration that is not in order. The ministry has poor insight into the financial obligations of 11.6 billion euros. Money that is intended, among other things, to promote international stability and safety.

Among other things, the aid organizations that get money from Foreign Affairs may be confronted with delayed payments. It is also not always clear what the money is transferred to these organizations before Foreign Affairs.

Coronacrisis

In the event of the Ministry of Defense and Foreign Affairs, the problems are so serious that the Court of Audit is lodged by the Court of Audit.

Taking the objection is the most serious instrument of the Court of Audit to indicate that urgent measures are needed to resolve certain problems. The last time the Court of Auditors issued a single objection was during the coronacrisis at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Their receipts for expenditures were difficult to follow in that hectic time. The last time that the Court of Audit lodged an objection at the same time on two ministries, the president cannot remember.

Duisenberg does not see the problems that the Court of Audit signals at the three ministries as individual problems. The safety problems in the Ministry of Defense, the name change in criminal cases and the IT chaos in Foreign Affairs are ‘symptoms’ of a much broader vulnerable basis in the business operations of ministries.

The cabinet’s inspector sees that politics pours out a lot of legislation, wishes and complex rules on implementation, while they can hardly absorb the wishes. Moreover, a government that works with rickety IT systems.

NATO standard

Last year again a lot of money remained on the shelf – another symptom of too much wishes versus what is possible in practice. In 2024 it was 6 billion euros. The government also decides to spend more and more money at a later time, because it provides that it is not possible to spend the money. In 2024 it will be 15.2 billion euros. In 2018, the cabinet then moved 2 billion euros to the future.

It is also difficult to spend money for the safety of the Netherlands. Two percent of the gross domestic product must be spent on Defense, is the agreement. That did not work in 2024, the Court of Audit calculated. The defense fencing was stuck at 1.79 percent.

While the not NATO objective, which will be set at a top in The Hague next summer, is expected to be 3.5 percent. Every year this means an additional edition of 16 to 19 billion euros in Defense, wrote Minister Ruben Brekelmans (Defense, VVD) in a letter to Parliament on Tuesday.

Simplify

How are these problems solved? The Ministers of Defense, Justice and Security and Foreign Affairs promise improvement. The military locations will be better protected, the criminal cases better registered and Foreign Affairs is working on the IT system.

The message to politics is broader: ensure that the basis of rules, processes and IT systems are in order. The Court of Audit advises to assign extra weight to implementation tests, so that it becomes clear in advance whether plans of the government are feasible. Duisenberg: « There were mainly rules. » In order to be able to do what the government promises, the « systems, processes and rules must greatly simplify and integrate. »

Otherwise, the conclusion from the reports on accountability day is the basis for Dutch safety in a geopolitics turbulent time.

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