(This article was written by Derk Jan Eppink and appeared in Wynia’s Week. Jetten moet in Brussel opkomen voor het Nederlands belang, anders wordt hij in eigen land uitgespuugd)
Premier Jetten begins his European entry in a turbulent world. Should the Netherlands join a maritime power to secure ‘free passage’ through the Strait of Hormuz? At first glance: ‘too unsafe’. Europe is backing out. A naval ship at Cyprus is quite a lot. Moreover, for many in The Hague, Donald Trump looks like Frankenstein’s monster. But he is, after all, the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Furthermore, European migration policy must be stricter and expensive climate policy, the gospel of D66, must be drastically reversed. This is the world Jetten is entering.
Therefore, he first made an introductory tour of several leading figures, such as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, besides of course the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who is pleased with a ‘pro-Europe’ premier from the Netherlands.
The former D66 leader Hans van Mierlo believed, as a great visionary of his time, that the Netherlands should crawl into the armpit of Germany and France. That is exactly what the first D66 premier did, even though that armpit is sweaty and not fresh. There is friction especially between the two countries with statesmen who prefer to travel abroad. The popularity of both Merz and Macron is at an all-time low in their own countries. Germany and France are part of the core of the European problem.
Merz received Jetten with military honors and Macron with lunch at the Élysée Palace, so that Jetten understands who is pulling the strings in Europe. Influential in both Europe and the US is Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, but she did not fit the picture, because she is conservative. D66 is actually a ‘European church denomination’ that expects all salvation from Brussels. The Netherlands is thereby seen as a ‘state’ of a federal Union. But a Dutch premier must especially stand up for ‘Dutch interests’ in Brussels. In D66 circles, that is already a dirty word. A D66 premier who proclaims that is cursing in church.
Proportionally, the Netherlands is the largest net contributor to the EU. The member state of the Netherlands pays 17.8 billion euros per year and receives only 1.4 billion euros back as ‘compensation’. For each Dutch taxpayer, the net contribution to the EU amounts to 1700 euros per year. And what does the EU want? To eliminate the net rebate of 1.4 billion euros. What does the current D66 premier say to that: ‘It is not realistic to maintain this agreed rebate.’ He capitulates before he even arrives in Brussels.
Instead of standing up for Dutch taxpayers in Brussels, the Dutch premier harms them in Brussels, from European perspectives. Such a premier would be dragged to the scaffold in France by angry unions for treason, but in the Netherlands, nobody cares.
Former Finance Minister Hans Hoogervorst (VVD) and former top official at the Finance Ministry Dick Sluimers criticized this financial gap in an opinion article in De Telegraaf (February 13). But there was no response whatsoever, neither from the cabinet nor from Parliament. Apparently, no one cares about the squeezed taxpayer.
Remarkable, because at the same time the Jetten cabinet wants to cut healthcare spending, shorten the duration of unemployment benefits, reduce welfare payments, and raise the retirement age. Social measures are never popular. However, this cabinet serves not the citizens of its own country, but those of other countries. The reverse is an unknown phenomenon. If the Dutch premier does not stand up for Dutch citizens in Brussels, no one else will.
Since the Jetten cabinet is a minority government, it will be very difficult to find support in Parliament for those social measures; both left and right will largely vote against, albeit for different reasons. Try to make a state budget for Budget Day now. Eelco Heinen, good luck!
The veto right in EU decision-making is an ideological curse for D66, but actually also for the CDA and the current VVD. The latter is even willing to deprive member states that obstruct the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of their voting rights. According to the government agreement, the Dutch coalition wants to ‘take a hard line with Hungary and Slovakia’. Here, the illogical idea that EU expansion and its federalization are parallel processes takes its revenge. Depriving a member state of voting rights denies that member state the ability to defend itself in case of an existential issue. Small countries especially suffer from this. Holland had no veto right in the Spanish Empire either. Disagreement inevitably resulted in rebellion.
Fortunately, there is still a lifeline: the veto right over the EU’s multi-year budget. Its elimination is not mentioned in the government agreement. That must have been the wish of the VVD. No member state makes difficulties over marginal differences between the pluses and minuses of a multi-year budget.
However, the Netherlands currently pays twelve times more than it gets back from Brussels. At the same time, it is a major financial supporter of Ukraine, while Spain puts on airs. That justifies a Premier Jetten who, as it were, bangs his fist on the table. However, it is unlikely that he will assert himself. As ‘champion net contributor,’ he stands up for many countries, but not for his own. That would not happen to Italian Premier Meloni; she would loudly snap back and, if necessary, block the entire European Council.
A member of the European Council who does master the game is the Belgian premier, the Flemish Bart De Wever. He succeeded in completely changing course with the European Council in the Euroclear case. The European Commission came up with a plan to use 185 billion euros in frozen Russian assets, held with the financial institution Euroclear in Brussels, to support Ukraine. De Wever feared major financial risks for Belgium through lawsuits. The plan could be legally interpreted as ‘theft,’ with financial liability for Belgium of 185 billion euros.
Belgium took a stand in the EU, which is already rare. De Wever went to the leading figures of the EU to plead his case. The alternative, according to him, would be a European loan to Ukraine.
He first ensured unity in his own government, a feat in itself, reassured the Baltic states and Poland, and eventually got Merz and Von der Leyen, the German central axis, on his side. Thus the Flemish nationalist De Wever succeeded in saving the Kingdom of Belgium, with thanks from the King of Belgium.
No one can expect Premier Jetten to already master the power game in Brussels at that level. But standing up for your own member state in Brussels strengthens the legitimacy of a Dutch premier in his own country, because that is also the core task of all his colleagues in the European Council.
Whoever wants to play the ‘European purist’ might receive the annual ‘International Charlemagne Prize’ in Aachen but will be spat upon in his own country. Especially if at the same time he also cuts spending on the disadvantaged, the sick, and the disabled.
That ‘authority’ is necessary, especially if Dutch naval ships were to be sent to the Strait of Hormuz to safeguard ‘free passage’; a cornerstone of international law since Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). As soon as European countries refuse to do so, there will be major Atlantic repercussions, especially for NATO. If Europe abandons America, the opposite also happens. Trump: ‘Ukraine, your problem!’
A permanently smiling Premier Jetten does not make a ‘new Rutte’. He will have to step up his game in the ‘creepy’ world of power politics.
Derk Jan Eppink is a Distinguished Fellow (Honorary) at the Gold Institute for International Strategy, a Washington D.C.-based foreign policy and defense think tank.