If politicians in The Hague do not choose, it is chosen for them

So smart, so rich, so successful and yet unable to make difficult knots for years. The Netherlands gets stuck. Just wait for spring, sounded It has been in The Hague for months. Then the cabinet and coalition would take decisions. About reducing the emissions of nitrogen and greenhouse gas and about the financing of new billions of expenditures. But again the ruling coalition (PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB) shifts painful decisions.

The many extra billions of euros that are needed for defense have not yet been found. The « irrevocably difficult choices » in the climate policy that people would « feel » (thus VVD minister Sophie Hermans are not forthcoming last year. Also the big one nitrogen plan that the cabinet presented last week further elaborated. « In this plan it is still unclear when and how nitrogen emissions in the agricultural sector will fall and how you guarantee that, » says Jan Willem Erisman, professor, nitrogen expert and chairman of the scientific climate council.

So much hageled and not really solving it. So the entire circus will probably start again in August, if there is to be negotiations on the Budget Memorandum.

Because that difficult choices are inevitable has been for years clearly. The heavy industry and agriculture must change radically. The economy is bursting at the seams. The power grid is full. The staff shortages are great. There is not enough room for all political wishes. « In addition, that does not fit in one Netherlands, » the cabinet said the King on Prinsjesdag. And the fight for space becomes even bigger. Because there is room to absorb the consequences of climate change (for water storage for example), room for all extra houses, room for the new energy system.

And then the Netherlands will probably also have to free up much more money and space for defense. “Where do those Tomahawks lie that the cabinet just bought? Where do those extra soldiers come from? That is at the expense of something else, « says Jeroen Hinloopen, professor of industrial organization and sub -director of the Central Planning Bureau. » Defense is a classic collective good: everyone wants to have it, nobody wants to contribute to it.  »

Administrative incompetent

If you do not choose, it will be chosen for you, says Hinloopen. Then ruling politicians give the choices out of your hands: about who still knows how to get room or staff. « Then the one who comes first wins. » Or the one who was already there. Or the one with it most money. Rich parents whose children suffer from the teacher shortage, buy tutoring, poor parents can’t. There is a good chance that the government will get less and less done due to the staff shortage. And thus undermines confidence in politics.

Politicians who do not choose increase contradictions. « Because the entire painting in the Netherlands is colored. If one wants to take more space, the other has to shrink. »

Even cleaning up the tax system has not been possible for fifteen years

So we get stuck now. In lawsuits and objection procedures. Against the State that own laws unrepented. Against new construction plans. We got bogged down.

We seem to have become administratively incompetent, says Hinloopen. We can no longer build something like the Delta Works. « If you had told people in the 1950s that we can no longer create a railway line from Amsterdam to Groningen, they would have looked at you surprised. » Even cleaning the tax system has not been possible for fifteen years. « And that is a reasonable bureaucratic exercise. A reform of agriculture, for example, is much more complicated. » Hinloopen has not seen any major changes since the introduction of the euro. « Only the reform of the pension system. But further? No. »

Stopping means that the economy is aging. There is less room for it New innovative companies. Existing companies are already taking up the space. « Soon there will be no question anymore for the things we make. The rest of the world is not standing still. »

Less resilience

It’s a shame, because the Netherlands has a versatile economy that can still take a beating now. We produce an incredible amount of added value per square kilometer, calculated Hinloopen. But a handful of countries can do that. « We live on a very nice piece of earth where we have the luxury to choose. But we are still a bit on the edge of the pool with a thick wallet, without getting ready to change much. » The longer you wait, the higher the costs and the greater the pain, says Hinloopen.

Do not think that this indecision is good for the sectors that want to protect politicians. Take agriculture. Due to the tight space, the costs go up there, says Erisman. « The removal of manure is becoming more expensive, because there is too much manure to be able to get rid of the country we have. » Borrowing is becoming more expensive, because a clear future perspective for the farmers is missing. « Politics now leaves it to the market. Then you get scaling up, because only large agricultural companies can handle the higher costs. That is disadvantageous for farmers with roughly 100 cows, a group that has an important role in the countryside. They will follow the rules neatly, but have to deal with higher costs and less investment space. »

Of course, choosing is difficult. Who should arrange is a loaded political fight. But not choosing has nasty, painful consequences. Such as a further undermining of trust in politics. And less economic resilience and resilience.

To share

Mail the editors