The 2014 Defence Budget – Increased operational activity in the Norwegian Armed forces

The Government proposes a real increase in the Defence Budget for 2014 by 22.4 million Norwegian kroner. Also including internal redistribution of resources, the operational activity in the Armed Forces is strengthened by 29.4 million Norwegian kroner.

-The Government proposes to increase the Defence budget, both to improve the balance in the current long-term plan and as a first step to increase operational output beyond the ambitions in this plan. These may be minor changes, but are still important as the clearly point out a direction for the Government´s future efforts and priorities in the defence area, says Minister of Defence Ine Eriksen Søreide.

More concretely the Government proposes:

• To strengthen the budget of the Coast Guard by 13.9 million Norwegian kroner to  ensure increased operational activity in Northern Norway
• To strengthen the budget of the Home Guard by 7 million Norwegian kroner to increase operational activity in the Home Guard Rapid Reaction units
• An extra appropriation to secure the permanent national readiness for the Naval Special Forces (8.5 million Norwegian kroner).

In addition steps are being taken to make the existing compensation scheme for injured veterans more robust and predictable.

-The commitment to honouring our veterans continues and will be strengthened, says Minister of Defence Ine Eriksen Søreide.

Here is a presentation (pdf) in English on the budget proposal that might be useful for some.

(This is an English Summary based on this budget proposal in Norwegian that was made public November 8th 2013. This proposal is a revision of the budget made from the Stoltenberg II government that was presented in October).