On 2nd October 2019, the Minister of Defence, François Bausch, and U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg, Randy Evans, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cost Sharing for Maintenance and Storage Operations of the United States Air Force Europe (USAFE) at the military depot managed by the Warehouses Service Agency (WSA) in Sanem. Under the new MOU, Luxembourg has committed to cover the corresponding costs over a period of ten years up to 225 million euros. To this end, the Minister of Defence will soon introduce a financing bill in the Chamber of Deputies.
The Memorandum of Understanding marks a bright future for the warehouse facility and U.S. Luxembourg defence cooperation. As a follow on to the first Memorandum of Understanding signed in 1978, the new Memorandum of Understanding reinforces our mutual commitment to our alliance. Indeed, USAFE plans to increase the storage capacity in the current perimeter of the site, which will lead to a substantial increase in the WSA workforce.