THE HAGUE - VNO-NCW president Ingrid Thijssen expressed the business association's concern about the Cabinet's attitude towards other countries, particularly the European Union. "If you look at the coalition program, there is literally one page in 138 that deals with Brussels. That shows that the Netherlands gets a lot from Brussels and contributes very little," she explained on the television program WNL op Zondag. 

The coalition program states, for example, that the Netherlands wants to ask the EU to stay out of European migration policy in the future. "On the one hand, the Netherlands wants less labor migration. At least the trade unions want mass early retirement again, and the CNV even wants us to work fewer hours per week. At some point, you think: Who is going to keep our society going?" Thijssen wonders about the labor shortage. 

The VNO-NCW is pleased that the Cabinet is committed to strengthening internal European trade. This should make investing and trading in other EU countries easier for Dutch entrepreneurs and citizens. "This is of crucial importance. I think the minister was also very committed to this," she said. 

Last week, Thijssen pointed out that the Netherlands would suffer severe financial losses in the coming decades if the government did not take action to strengthen Europe's economic competitiveness. 

According to the VNO-NCW president, massive investments and further internal market integration are essential to strengthen competitiveness. "We must invest massively in innovation, energy infrastructure, and resilience in the coming years. When it comes to new technologies, Europe is at the back of the pack. Only 4 of the top 50 tech companies in the world are European."