Dr Oliver Hartwich: Getting things done without the double Dutch

Before our Netherlands delegation in June, I wrote in this publication about the political chaos we might encounter (When populists cannot be tamed, Newsroom 10 June 2024). Geert Wilders had just brought down the government he helped create. I wondered whether the Dutch “polder model” of consensus democracy could survive 21st-century populism.

But Dutch politics was the least interesting thing about the Netherlands.

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The Netherlands has long been Europe’s model of commercial pragmatism. Its business leaders built their fortunes on free trade, open markets, and meticulous efficiency. So when The New Zealand Initiative’s “Go Dutch” business leaders delegation arrived in Amsterdam late last month, we expected familiar conversations about productivity, innovation, and regulatory reform.

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The stock exchange of Amsterdam is, by their reckoning, the oldest in the world. It was here that the Dutch East India Company, also known by its Dutch acronym the VOC, raised capital to build its trading empire. Legend has it the VOC was the first publicly traded company. Ever. Although the English East India Company was founded two years earlier and also traded its shares, so, maybe the Dutch were bragging?

I was part of the biennial tour organised by the NZ Initiative to explore small well-run nations in search for excellent ideas to bring home and to establish the parameters of delegates capacity for alcohol, (Surprisingly low, it turns out).

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Later this month, our organisation, The New Zealand Initiative, will take a large delegation of top New Zealand business leaders to the Netherlands. It is not a trade mission but an ideas exploration. We want to see what makes the Dutch tick and what makes the Netherlands successful.

As I was preparing materials for our delegation, one graph caught my attention. It tracked capital intensity and labour productivity for both countries from 1890.

Oliver Hartwich: After Rutte, uncertainty reigns in the Netherlands

With his surprising decision not just to resign but to step away from politics altogether, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has created a phase of uncertainty.

Rutte’s tenure, one of the longest among European heads of government, was previously characterised by adroit navigation of a political environment that can be as challenging as it is diverse.

For the past 13 years, it was Rutte who defined the political landscape of the Netherlands. And he had considerable standing within the EU.