Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, I am Chief Commissioner Alexandre Coyo. I work with the General Secretariat for Administration on matters involving the combat community. The combat community naturally include veterans, but also wounded soldiers, families who have lost loved ones, and the victims of acts of terrorism.
I am going to talk to you very quickly about the pillars of the ministry's policy on the care of members of the military who become sick or injured while serving. The policy is clearly horizontal in that it involves serving members and those who have left the service and will enter the ambit of the Office national des anciens combattants et victimes de guerre for long-term care.
The first of the three pillars of the ministry's policy of care is the right to reparation. In France, we have a right to specific, financial reparation. If you wish, I can tell you a little more about the financial care we provide.
The second pillar we offer to wounded soldiers and their families is personal support. This is an extremely human dimension of the policy, in which the only mission of those who operate it is to provide personal support to wounded soldiers. Each of the armed forces has a wounded warriors' group to provide that support. Once the member has left active service, ONACVG takes over.
There are also groups like the Service de santé des armées, that provide a range of services to each member.
The third pillar, which is seen as essential, is what we describe as protection. This includes recognition mechanisms, including awarding medals in order to put a value on combat actions, or the statutory protections established in the Code de la défense. They provide specific protections for the rights of military members and their families.
If I may, I would like to give you some key figures.
In France today, we provide pensions for 150,000 veterans. That is the overall total at the end of 2016. An additional 55,000 spouses or children of wounded soldiers also receive support after the soldier dies. The policy means that we spend 1.2 billion euros annually in specific support for wounded soldiers.
I would be delighted to answer your questions.