VNO-NCW chairman warns Dutch government collapse could delay action on key issues

VNO-NCW chairman Coen van Oostrom has urged the Netherlands’ coalition parties to keep the minority government in office, warning that its collapse could delay action on major economic and policy problems, including nitrogen emissions and pressure on the electricity grid.

Speaking on the Dutch television programme *Buitenhof*, Van Oostrom said the government had pledged to tackle those issues and should follow through. He said he hoped it would remain in place and develop a growth agenda.

The coalition crisis followed a tax-plan agreement between D66 and CDA and left-wing opposition parties, reached without VVD. The amendment would raise the top rate of tax on wealth and reduce income tax for workers. It would also bring in about €90 million more from businesses by keeping tax-band thresholds from rising with inflation.

Van Oostrom said businesses were frustrated by the prospect of extra tax, on top of years of rising costs for companies. But he did not expect entrepreneurs to leave the country in large numbers. He said a government collapse would be “dramatic” if talks on nitrogen policy had to start again from scratch.

He argued that policy discussions should focus less on small changes to tax rates and more on how to generate economic growth and address major problems, saying that could lead to wiser policy and faster action.