There was a stiff deadline breathing down his neck when Peter Wennink took on the assignment three months ago. Economy Minister Vincent Karremans asked the former ASML CEO to write advice on how the Netherlands can boost ‘earning capacity’. This is necessary to maintain prosperity and to cover the rising costs for healthcare, safety and energy transition.
The deadline has been met, says Wennink, at a slightly cramped table in Nieuwspoort. In front of him is ‘Report Wennink’, a blueprint of 159 pages, a to-do list for the reform of the Dutch economy. It reads like a Dutch version of the European Draghi plan, but a lot more concrete.
Wennink officially retired in 2024, but ended up back in the high-pressure boiler he knows from ASML. With a team of sixty, mainly young people, he worked about 90 hours a week on advice with 51 project proposals. “Those young civil servants were still emailing at one o’clock in the morning. Not that I looked at it then, but it shows their enthusiasm. Otherwise the advice would not have come so quickly.”
We must keep our relationship with the other major powers open
He encountered the same enthusiasm at the companies, universities and other knowledge institutions he spoke to. “I only had to raise my little finger and they got to work. They also want to be part of those investment projects. They all worked ninety hours a week,” he says. “Of course, this plan should have been there a long time ago. Everyone saw it, governments and companies. But nothing happened.”
Wennink, who previously called the Netherlands “fat, dumb and happy” now uses the term “peat fire crisis”. “You see it smoldering, but once the fire spreads, it is suddenly everywhere. We are losing the earning capacity of the Dutch economy. We have used up part of our savings. If we do not increase growth to 1.5 to 2 percent per year, we will be in very big trouble.”
Otherwise, will we be ‘eaten’ by superpowers China and the US?
“Last month I was in Beijing and we got insight into their five-year plan. China is doing exactly the same things as we are. But they are very specific there: scared, scared, scaredthis is what we’re going to do. In America, the capital market is especially important. He accepts a lot of risk and organically chooses techniques that create extra value. That’s what it’s all about go, go go.”
Is the American attitude driving the EU towards China?
“Well, those 33 pages about the Trump administration’s national security strategy… How many more slaps in the face do we need? My conclusion: we have to do it ourselves. But that is not possible without China. We have to keep the relationship with the other major powers open, because we need each other for a while. They need us too. Strategic autonomy is a stupid word; it means that you want to do everything yourself and that is not possible. It is all about strategic relevance. You don’t want to be on the menu.”
Now you quote your own quote in the report: Those who are not at the table are on the menu. Does that mean that we should use access to our innovations as an economic weapon? As CEO of ASML, you have always wanted to prevent that, right?
“When export controls were announced by the Dutch government on the most critical technology that China does not possess, we were not threatened by Chinese fighter jets or suddenly cut off from Chinese technology. None of that happened. You don’t have to say that you are relevant. Because the other person understands that very well, and therefore has to be a bit more careful.”
Is the Netherlands now at the table or are we on the menu?
“Let me put it this way: preparations are already being made for next year’s Christmas dinner.”
You believe that the Netherlands should become more of a knowledge economy. So what needs to go?
“Economics is based on making choices within scarcity. You want to deploy talent where you create the most value.”
So, what needs to go?
“Think of energy-intensive industries with low-quality activities, such as the paper industry. Or employment agencies that bring workers to the Netherlands for low-quality work. Think of meat processing, timber trading, certain forms of agriculture.”
But you do state that the Netherlands must retain its basic industry – steel and chemicals. Can’t we live without it?
“Other chemical companies need basic chemicals, but investments in this sector are disappearing abroad due to our high energy costs and slow licensing. Steel is important for European safety and Tata makes special steel that is not produced elsewhere in Europe. Moreover, that factory has more innovative power to accelerate greening than many competitors.”
The Wennink Report, which was presented on Friday in the Nieuwspoort press center. The report contains recommendations to safeguard prosperity and freedom for future generations.
Photo Jeroen Jumelet/ANP
Where are we going to get the money for all the plans?
“There is hardly any risk capital here. We have to adjust the rules so that pension funds invest riskier investments more often, for part of that 1,600 billion in pension money. And there are 650 billion euros in savings in non-performing bank accounts. For this, there must be a tax deduction for people who are willing to invest in venture capital funds.”
You also invest in new technology yourself.
“Certainly. And then people say: that’s easy to say, in your position. But you never get used to losing a million.”
The Dutch economy partly relies on cheap labor that does not fit into your plan. Who will deliver the packages in Veldhoven and who will clean your house?
“I speak on behalf of my wife: I wish that cleaner was there, because we don’t have one now. And as for the packages, they will be delivered by drones within five years. That requires re-skilling, retraining. We need people to build the energy system and digital infrastructure. You have no idea what’s coming our way: American investment banks are counting on mass layoffs due to the automation of products, services, artificial intelligence. And those are not asparagus pickers who work there. That’s Ivy League econometricians and mathematicians are not going to another desk job. Their hands are needed elsewhere: in digitalization, in construction, in healthcare. We need to earn more with fewer people.”
I think it takes political courage
Many recommendations are going to hurt, you have already said. But will politicians impose that pain on society?
“The only thing I can say is that I have spoken to five political parties [D66, CDA, VVD, GroenLinks-PvdA, BBB]. In those conversations, they all say they share the sense of urgency. All, yes. Well, if they think so, then they must also take responsibility. They can always explain the nuances a little differently.”
Do you believe that too? The election campaign was not about innovation or earning capacity at all. Didn’t that annoy you?
“I was already past the point of annoyance. More of a feeling of resignation.”
Were you not inclined to return the assignment?
“No, no, no. This is necessary. I was very unhappy, but I also have a great sense of responsibility. I think it takes political courage. Some kind of national agreement is needed. How they do that, with a majority or minority cabinet with tolerance constructions, is up to them.”
Do they perhaps need your report to be able to shout loudly that all this is really necessary?
“You have to ask those politicians. I don’t know if I will be their excuse-Truus.”
Was everyone positive about the report?
“Well, one union characterized it as a capitalist bluster from a drinks party or something. Then I say: fine, then you keep everything the same, right? But with such rigidity you deny the problem. A responsible society does not only focus on companies. Or only on the employees. Or only on the capital providers. It is together. ASML would never have become anything without collaboration, where we leave something on the table for all partners.”
Also read
The choices that Wennink presents to the Netherlands will hurt. Who pays the bill?
Is there a sequel for you?
“In any case, I will not be the government commissioner that I recommend. I am almost 69 and it is important that such a person does that for seven years, so that you can extend it over a period of government. That person has to ensure that the departments work together, you need a political and official gogme for that. I am not suitable for that.”
The subheading of your report is ‘A strong Netherlands in a relevant Europe’. Will you also go to the farm with this plan?
“I received an invitation from the German government and in Brussels they said: please translate it into English as quickly as possible, because we are very interested. Twenty years ago, the Netherlands was a forerunner and a pioneer of the European idea. We can be that again now.”
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