Ingrid Thijssen, where do we know her from?
Thijssen has been chairman of employers’ organization VNO-NCW since 2020. Whoever holds that spot knows one thing for sure: you inherit a position that guarantees influence. You have an access pass to the Prime Minister and you can have a say in everything that concerns the Dutch business community.
Why is she in the news now?
The Dutch business climate. On Thursday, companies such as Philips and Schiphol, VNO-NCW and the cabinet met at the Catshuis on the initiative of Minister Micky Adriaansens (Economic Affairs, VVD). They spoke about the concerns of entrepreneurs about measures that would be unfavorable to their competitive position. Thijssen is trying to persuade the government that the Netherlands must remain competitive with other countries. She will also speak about this at the Bilberg conference this weekend. There, the business and governing Netherlands meet each other in an informal setting in the Oosterbeek hotel of the same name.
What can Thijssen change about that?
Read Thijssen’s opinion piece here: Government, companies are running away from the Netherlands
As chairman of VNO-NCW, she is in fact the standard bearer of the Dutch business community. Thijssen has been complaining about the business climate for some time. In an opinion piece in NRC she stated last summer that the Netherlands “is no longer a logical place to settle” and that there is an “exodus” among companies. That the Netherlands still does in all kinds of international comparisons good for the dayhowever, was not addressed.
Thijssen’s call was not an isolated one. Companies have been complaining for some time about the amount of rules, the construction delays caused by the nitrogen problem, and requirements in the field of sustainability. Recently, Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski also spoke out again. He threatens – not for the first time, but there were no concrete plans to move yet – to leave the Netherlands because unwelcome legislation was coming up for the dredging company, he said in conversation with the FD.
One of the proposals that Thijssen opposes is the Sustainability Act (IMVO). Companies will soon have to check whether the production chain as a whole does not cause damage to people or the environment. “If something goes wrong with a supplier of a supplier of a supplier in Nigeria, it could happen that you as a CEO go to jail,” Thijssen said earlier about this. On 1.
But the problem, she says, is broader than that. The United States and Europe, in competition with each other and China, are flooding their own market with state aid. Precisely where sustainability is concerned, the Netherlands should subsidize rather than deter, believes Thijssen. Incidentally, one of the EU sustainability plans is precisely a proposal to better account for the sustainability of the production chain.
And, does it yield anything?
Thijssen called the session on Thursday “constructive”. But the participants really went beyond generalities after not. “The subject is so broad that it is important that we continue to talk to each other,” said Thijssen. That is important “because we are wasting the earning power for future generations”. It is not known whether more sessions will follow.
In the absence of columnist Marike Stellinga, who is on writing leave, NRC chooses a person of the week every Saturday.
A version of this article also appeared in the February 4, 2023 newspaper