Stop procurement pain and allow officials to make mistakes

19 March 2016

Procurement rules, which were originally brought in as a means of providing protection against unfair competition, have in practice turned out to be a bureaucratic, costly circus that certainly does not exclude unfair competition. Examples such as the fiasco surrounding the Fyra trains and the tendering procedure for police vehicles have of course received extensive media coverage. However, those cases that do not get reported on are actually the ones that harm small businesses the most.
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The Netherlands, the old people’s home of the world!

20 February 2016

The population of the Netherlands is ageing. It is estimated that one quarter of the population will be over the age of 65 in 25 years’ time. Approximately one in three of those will be older than 80. This means that even fewer people will be working for even more non-employed people

Stimulate innovations and not the old economy

23 January 2016

My previous column about the ending of all sorts of subsidies on fuels and agriculture (24 December 2015) caused quite a stir. It is always exciting to work with figures. There are other agricultural subsidies besides those from the EU.
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Are we quitting subsidies as well, after Paris?

23 December 2015

History was made at the recent Climate Summit in Paris. In the words of the Dutch State Secretary for the Environment, this is something that comes to known as “green history”. Members of the delegations fell into each other’s arms, tears in their eyes, followed by an ovation lasting several minutes.
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Government be our first customer!

27 November 2015

On Friday the thirteenth, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) announced that growth had levelled off in the third quarter to almost zero. Disappointing natural gas revenues and a weak export position were all over the newspapers. And, actually, that’s no great surprise.
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‘Business as usual’ and ‘let’s see what happens’

31 October 2015

When this column appears, I will be in China. Next week I will be in South Korea and Japan. And shortly after I leave Japan, Mark Rutte will be arriving there on 9 November for a trade mission.
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The Netherlands… actually the greenest city in the world!

3 October 2015

As a businesswoman, I’m becoming increasingly reluctant to follow what’s going on in the news. Aside from the positive news that Shell is stopping drilling for oil in Alaska, over the last few weeks we’ve been able to read about the large numbers of refugees, the slashing of prices of medication, the scandal over diesel cars and the ‘carbon bubble’.
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Google

18 August 2015

In August I was in California, where I visited Google – such an opportunity! I had a meeting with Jan, a software developer at Google I’ve known for years because he is my son’s best friend. Jan has been working at Google for around six months now.