Parliament backs bigger citizen reserve for crises and disasters
If a major crisis hits, trained volunteers could help fill the gap when police, military and emergency services are stretched.
The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, supports expanding citizen reserves (burgerreserves). These are trained volunteers who could help during crises and disasters when police, military and emergency services cannot manage alone.
Reserves are expected to be particularly valuable in the first three days of a crisis, to prevent chaos.
Who is behind it
The initiative comes from BurgerReserve, an organisation whose name means Citizen Reserve and which trains citizens to support crisis response. It has already trained about 1,000 people in general skills this year. Businesses and private individuals pay the training costs.
Reservists are to be trained in three specialisms: technology, logistics and security.
Parliament wants the government to help the expansion by providing Ministry of Defence training grounds and classrooms at no cost. The cabinet has said it shares parliament's wish.
The CDA, the Christian Democratic party, supports a motion to grow the reserve to 130,000 people within four years.
Tweede Kamer
The Tweede Kamer is the directly elected chamber of the Dutch parliament, with 150 members who represent the people and propose and vote on laws. It is the more powerful of the two chambers and is where most legislative debates and decisions happen in the Netherlands.
CDA (Christen-Democratisch Appèl)
The CDA is a centre-right Christian democratic political party that has been a major force in Dutch politics for decades, often participating in governing coalitions. It appeals to voters who value social responsibility, Christian values, and pragmatic governance.