Majority of House of Representatives votes in favor of motion to retain air raid siren – IT Pro – News

A majority of the House of Representatives has voted in favor of a motion to retain the air raid siren. Outgoing Minister Yeşilgöz of Justice and Security recently announced that he wants to completely replace the air raid siren with NL-Alert at the end of 2025.

The motion for the retention of the air raid siren was supported by a large majority of the House of Representatives on Tuesday. The motion states, among other things, that eight percent of Dutch people do not have a mobile phone, and that the air raid siren therefore has a greater range, in addition to the possibility that the mobile network can be switched off in the event of a cyber attack.

In the motion, the House requests the outgoing cabinet to maintain the air raid siren for the future. By passing the motion, they want Yeşilgöz to come up with a plan to maintain that system, writes the NOS. The motion was submitted by JA21 MP Joost Eerdmans, with support from members of BBB, Volt, SP, GroenLinks-PvdA, CDA, ChristenUnie and SGP.

The outgoing cabinet announced at the beginning of this month that it wants to replace the air raid siren with NL-Alert at the end of 2025. Then the maintenance contracts for the Alarm System expire, after which the maintenance of the air raid siren becomes more expensive. After 2026, maintenance would cost around 160 million euros, says Minister Yeşilgöz. According to the minister, NL-Alert also has more reach than the current air raid siren.

Various safety regions expressed their concerns about the possible abolition of the air raid siren, including Rotterdam-Rijnmond. Arjen Littooij, the director of that region, mentioned those plans versus NOS ‘irresponsible’ for a region with a high risk profile and then said that both the air raid siren and NL-Alert should be maintained to inform people as quickly as possible about emergencies.