Part of the House of Representatives is concerned about the Dutch business climate. According to employers’ organizations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland, many entrepreneurs believe that this has worsened. This afternoon, Minister Adriaansens of Economic Affairs must convince the House that the Netherlands is still attractive to companies.
The parliamentary debate follows barely a day after the cabinet announced that it will block an initiative law for responsible business, for fear that this law will harm the Dutch business climate. The ministers Adriaansens of Economic Affairs and Schreinemacher of Foreign Trade have informed the creators of the law of this.
Last month, Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski threatened to leave the Netherlands in an interview with the FD if this law comes into effect. This interview was followed by a parliamentary debate, which is therefore scheduled for this afternoon. Berdowski told the newspaper that the blocked law makes doing business in the Netherlands “impossible”.
Nitrogen policy harmful
The employers’ associations VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland went over that last night: the organizations write to the House of Representatives, in the run-up to the debate, that one in three entrepreneurs finds the business climate of the Netherlands unattractive. About 60 percent believe that the business climate has deteriorated in the past five years.
According to the employers’ associations, the Dutch nitrogen policy would also be bad for the Dutch business community. The FD calculated last autumn that the economic damage of the nitrogen crisis has risen to 28 billion euros.
Regulatory pressure
According to D66 Member of Parliament Romke de Jong, the nitrogen crisis keeps the Dutch economy in a ‘hold’, because companies cannot expand or invest. He calls on Minister Adriaansens to hurry. ‘With all those stagnant investments, we are locking up our economy.’
Minister Adriaansens says he wants to work on less regulatory pressure for companies and to harmonize the rules in Europe. And we need to invest more. In innovation, in people and in knowledge.’
