FEBRUARY 2021

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Contents

5 Scandal unveils lack of government transparency and forces cabinet to resign 7 Lilianne Ploumen becomes the new PvdA party leader

No more weed for tourists, Amsterdam mayor says 9 2020: a record year for the mortgage market

Second lockdown threatens many sectors of the Dutch economy 11 Dutch multinationals: government intervention required in recycling plastic

Millennials are getting richer quickly, thanks to the baby boomers 12 The Hague, city of peace and justice 15 And the winner is: takeaway and grocery deliveries

The closing of schools leads to major problems 17 Feel at Home fair 19 Stormy Tulips offered to the Mayor of The Hague

Surinamese School in the Stedelijk Museum 20 Tips on how to cultivate good feelings over the lockdown

Most-searched-symptoms in the Netherlands 21 We are Animals in the Kunsthal 23 The good doctor’s sports prescription

COLOPHON

The Holland Times is an independent, English language newspaper with Dutch news, published by Argo Special Media B.V. Total circulation: 80,000 copies

Argo Special Media B.V. Postbus 2203 1500 GE Zaandam

Contributors Raphael Perachi Vieira, Benjamin Roberts, Femke van Iperen, Bárbara Luque Alanís, Juan Alvarez, Nanda Jagusiak Monteiro, Priyanka Sharma, Charlotte Seijger, Maurits Seijger, John Mahnen, Lorre Luther& Beatriz Negreiros

Editor Roselaar Tekstadvies

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All Rights reserved by the publisher and/ or the author(s). 2003 The Amsterdam Times

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Mother and Child Center in HMC

This year the Mother and Child Center is being built in HMC, which is expected to open at the end of 2021. In addition to the current birthing baths, this Mother and Child Center will have more than six luxurious, brand new birthing baths. One of these has recently been put into use in HMC. Marlou van Nus (31) gave birth in this new bath last fall. “A very pleasant experience!”

To prepare for her delivery, Marlou watches the video about giving birth in HMC on the website during her pregnancy. She immediately notices one of the rooms in the video. “Big, beautiful and without typical hospital fluorescent lights”, she describes with a smile. “And most importantly, the room has a brand-new birthing bath. Although there is a chance that the room will be occupied when I have to give birth, I wanted to go for this.”

September 22 is the day that Marlou’s contractions begin and together with her boyfriend she gets into the car towards HMC. To her surprise, Marlous’ favorite room turns out to be available. “How great!”

Different positions “During the contractions I was able to walk back and forth in the spacious, homely room,” she says. “When the last phase started, I got into the bath. The warm water immediately eased my pain. I could adopt different positions: on my back, side and forward in the bath. The bath also has many useful supporting points so that you can take care of the (pushing) contractions with your feet. The bath itself can be raised and lowered: great for the midwife, she told me”. Marlou also does the pushing quite well. “The water makes you weightless, I really liked that.” And then, in the water, after midnight on September 23, a healthy little boy is born: Jurre. Marlou: “By giving birth in the bath, the transition was not that big for him. In my amniotic fluid in the abdomen, he was also in the warmth. Giving birth in the bath was not only very pleasant for myself, but also for Jurre, I think!”

Marlou looks back with a smile on her delivery in the birthing bath of HMC. “It all went very well, without complications. Jurre’s weight was a bit low when he was born; we had to stay 24 hours for some checkups, but then we could go home, the three of us.”

Marlou and the baby are both doing well. Jurre is growing very well, according to his proud mother. Due to corona, the information evenings about giving birth in HMC will be canceled for the time being, but all information for (expectant) mothers can be found on the webpage www.haaglandenmc.nl/giving-birth. You can also watch the extensive video about giving birth in HMC.

”The rooms are big, beautiful and without typical hospital fluorescent lights”

Information for expats

Information meetings for expats

Would you like to know more about information meetings for expats? Contact Nanda Jagusiak-Monteiro, Expat Coordinator E n.jagusiakmonteiro@haaglandenmc.nl

Patients Administration

Foreign Business Financial issues can be discussed with the employees of the Centrale Kas. E Foreign-business@haaglandenmc.nl Telephone hours of business: Tuesday and Thursday 10.00 - 12.00 am T +31 (0)88 979 29 00 T +31 (0)88 97 97 900

Nanda Jagusiak-Monteiro

Giving birth in HMC continues as usual, even during time of the corona virus. In HMC, just like Marlou, you can opt for a delivery in the birthing bath. But you can also use other tools in our delivery rooms, such as a skippy ball or a birthing stool. Moreover, at HMC we are specialized in (complex) caesarean sections and various forms of pain relief during childbirth and we offer gentle or even maternal assisted caesarean.

Pain relief If you need pain relief while giving birth, please do not hesitate to ask. Together, we will try and decide which type of analgesic is the most suited to your particular situation at that moment. When you discuss your upcoming delivery with your midwife or obstetrician, you will be provided with information on the various types of pain relief. You are allowed, but not obliged, to include your pain relief preferences in your birth plan.

Cardiac monitoring We continuously monitor your baby’s heart rate during delivery. We do this with a special device that records the heartbeat. We call such a recording a cardiotocogram (CTG). In HMC we use wireless CTG devices. This allows you to move freely, while we look after your child and your health. You can use it in the shower and bath.

www.haaglandenmc.nl info@haaglandenmc.nl

Scandal unveils lack of government transparency and forces cabinet to resign

On 15 January, two months before the –, which made it legal to see any inconsisMarch elections, Prime Minister Mark tency as fraud. Thus, the courts had no Rutte announced the resignation of his leeway to apply any kind of clemency and cabinet in response to the fallout from the appeals were dismissed out of hand. long-running childcare allowance scandal. This scandal has received increasing atten- In 2017, the first stories begin to come into tion over the last months, but its origins the limelight. Reiner van Zutphen, the nacan be traced back to 2013, when the abuse tional ombudsman – an official fighting on of the Dutch welfare systems by Bulgarian behalf of citizens when they have a conflict fraudsters was discovered. with the state – took notice of the excessively stringent methods of the tax authority. Scammers had travelled to the Nether- This in turn received media attention, and lands, working here and claiming welfare in the haze of journalism it was discovered benefits. At the time, such benefits were that parents who were trying to fight the paid out before the case was properly re- accusations of the tax authority were being viewed. However, by the time this review actively opposed. Officials working for the could take place and the claims turned tax authority who voiced their concerns out to be fraudulent, the scammers had were also discovered to have been silenced already returned to Bulgaria and the mo- or downright sacked. In 2018, two Memney could not be recouped. The minister bers of the Parliament, Renske Leijten of of finance at the time, Frans Weekers, ar- the Socialist Party (SP) and Pieter Omtzigt gued in Parliament for sharper anti-fraud of the Christian Democrats (CDA), raised measures to counter this practice. Parlia- the issue for the first time in the House. ment, shocked by the fraud, approved of The issue had gained enough ground by stricter measures. A task force was set up this point to warrant further investigation. by the tax authority (Belastingdienst) to With the support of the two MPs, several investigate possible fraudulent claims for affected parents, as well as journalists, orwelfare allowances. dered the tax authority to show them their day, he said, the cabinet must accept res- tuation. Prime Minister Rutte has claimed case files, which they had never even been ponsibility for the actions of the branches that in regards to the management of the This increased vigilance also applied to allowed to see until then. However, as the of government under its tenure, and there- Covid-19 virus, nothing has changed, and the childcare allowance (kinderopvangtoe- NOS, among other news outlets, showed fore it saw no alternative but to resign. decisions will continue to be made to mislag). This allowance offers lower-income on 11 December 2019, these case files con- tigate the impact. The only restriction on families, in which both parents work, the sisted exclusively of blacked-out pages. On The question remains, however, what the the cabinet is that it can no longer intropossibility to get a percentage of the costs 18 December 2019, Menno Snel, the state resignation actually provides to the inju- duce important new legislation. The move, of daycare for their children refunded. secretary in charge of the tax authority, re- red parents. The resignation is a symbolic while clearly symbolic, also has a political The fraud screening of the task force for signed. admission of guilt, thereby essentially jus- effect, as Guus Dietvorst, writing for NOS, this specific allowance was, as has beco- tifying the claims of the parents who have claimed. As the cabinet has already resigme evident through an investigation by In the summer of 2020, it was discovered been trying to prove their innocence for ned, Parliament can no longer threaten to a parliamentary inquiry committee, not that the investigations of the tax authority years. However, the resignation as such sack the government. Nevertheless, indivionly excessively stringent, but even selec- into fraudulent actively had been heavily in- serves little purpose for those whose lives dual members of government can still be tive in its accusations of fraud. More than fluenced by ethnic background. Applicants were affected. The cabinet had already dismissed at the House’s discretion. 27,000 parents were labeled as fraudsters from migrant backgrounds were more li- decided in December to remit the debts, after they had requested childcare allo- kely to be targeted for excessive investiga- and to gift € 30,000 to all the unjustly ac- Perhaps the most important effect of the wance. The allowances were stopped, and tion. The selection was largely motivated cused families. However, a review would whole scandal is that it unveiled a serious the parents had to pay back in full all wel- by name: people with ‘foreign-sounding’ first have to take place in order to verify underlying problem with the current form fare payments they had received. In some names were actively being targeted. In whose childcare welfare allowance was of governmental administration. Since the cases, these debts amounted to more than November 2020, a committee led by Chris stopped unjustly. Parents who were vindi- ruling VVD’s majority in the Senate was € 100,000. In many cases, the reasons for van Dam undertook an extensive depositi- cated would receive a letter allowing them lost in the May 2019 election, any laws drafbeing labelled fraudulent were small er- on process to produce a comprehensive re- to claim the money, but so far no one has ted by the Parliament and the cabinet have rors, such as submitting the wrong income port on the affair. Depositions were taken actually received the promised sum. to be reviewed for acceptance or rejection or wrong number of hours the child visited from all state officials who were involved, by a Senate that is not aligned with the coa childcare provider. Any administrative including Prime Minister Mark Rutte. The However, this situation has brought about alition government. This has meant that inconsistency in the case file, and the pa- committee’s report was presented on 17 new problems. Specifically, because the in order to get anything done, some backrents were immediately blacklisted. Even a December 2020, under the title ‘unpre- situation was ignored for so many years, room dealing has been necessary. This, single missing signature or a spelling error cedented injustice’ (Ongekend Onrecht). many parents have built up substantial fu- however, seems to have become the default could have elicit an excessive response. The report placed the blame squarely on rther debts in order cover living expenses, way of getting things done. This, in turn, the tax authority, but also pointed to the for example. They are heavily indebted to has led to a lack of communication betIn other cases, childcare providers would government in general, citing its failure to other organisations and businesses. Becau- ween the branches of government, as many apply in the name of parents, as was allo- protect the citizens. The depositions had se money owed to the government always of the processes by which laws came into wed by law. If the administration on the shown that many high officials had been takes precedence, when these debts were being were never recorded. Even before part of the daycare was imperfect, all of the aware of the problem, but none had been remitted, these other organisations beca- this, the tax authority seems to have made families using this daycare would be black- able to act, as the law in was in favour of me entitled to claim the outstanding debts. it a habit of not recording its decisions on listed. Thus, parents were being charged strict anti-fraud measures. No one had felt The government has urged these organisa- paper: many parents’ files proved to be inwith fraud by the tax authority, without ha- responsible to change the law or to imple- tions to remit the debts of these families as complete and crucial documents had been ving ever interacted with it directly. ment it in a more clement way, especially well, but this plead has fallen on deaf ears. ‘lost’. This general lack of transparency since the tax authority falls under two se- What does the resignation of the govern- seems to have caught up with the cabinet, Many families, struck by these massive parate departments, Social Affairs as well ment cabinet actually imply for the coun- and was cited as one of the primary reabills without warning, tried to prove their as Finance. try? Important to know in this context sons for their resignation. Prime Minister innocence. This was to little avail, however, is that the moniker of demissionary was Rutte has declared greater transparency a as the tax authority stubbornly dismissed In response to the findings of this report, going to be applied to the cabinet Rut- main target for the future, but it remains their cases as fraudulent and their appeals on 15 January 2021 the Dutch cabinet Rut- te-III anyway, once the polls closed after to be seen whether he will be able to impleas more lies. The parents were not even te-III tendered its resignation to the king, the election in March. This term basically ment this urgent change. told why they had been labelled as fraud- thus becoming ‘demissionary’. Rutte na- means that the cabinet has resigned, but sters, and therefore could not rectify any med the lack of transparency in commu- is still functioning in its everyday capacity mistakes they may have made. Even worse nications by the tax authority, and the fact of running the country in a caretaker cais that the courts followed the same policy, that the system allowed this injustice to go pacity. This means that it can continue to since they were bound by the law – which untreated for so long, as the primary rea- take care of ongoing business, in this case, after all had been approved by Parliament sons for his resignation. At the end of the most importantly, tackling the Covid-19 si- Written by Maurits Seijger

Lilianne Ploumen becomes the new PvdA party leader

On 18 January, Lilianne Ploumen became the new leader of the Dutch Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid), following the resignation of her predecessor Lodewijk Asscher, who stepped down due to his connection to the recent childcare allowance scandal. Ploumen thus becomes the first female leader in the history of the party, and PvdA now joins the group of female-led political parties in the Netherlands, along with D66, the Socialist Party, 50Plus and the Party for the Animals.

Having been the first choice for the new leader, amongst options such as Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb and Speaker of the House Khadija Arib, Ploumen takes over the leadership of the PvdA at a crucial time, less than two months away from the general election scheduled for 17 March. Just a few weeks prior, former party leader Lodewijk Asscher resigned over the toeslagenaffair, a scandal in which the Dutch tax authority (Belastingdienst) wrongfully accused almost 30,000 families of childcare allowance fraud, making them pay back to the government, in some cases, tens of thousands of euros.

As Minister of Social Affairs during the second Rutte government, Lodewijk Asscher widely criticized for his role in the scandal. Although he declared that he did not know what the tax authority was doing, he stepped down as leader of the PvdA and further acknowledged that the system had “made the government an enemy of its people”. In her acceptance speech, Ploumen contrasted the “sincere apologies” of Asscher with the lame “excuses” of Mark Rutte and the CDA party coalition leader Wopke Hoekstra, as FD newspaper reported, She declared that the allowance scandal was a symbol of the damage to the constitutional state and the welfare system in the Netherlands: “that’s why the PvdA is sorely needed. We created the constitutional state and the welfare system, and we will rebuild it again,” Ploumen stated. According to PvdA chairwoman Nelleke Vedelaar, as De Volkskrant reported, the emancipation struggle that the party wants to develop fits very well with Ploumen’s profile: “Her personal narrative tells the story of the PvdA. The daughter of a milkman from Maastricht can grow into the leader of a movement.” Indeed, Ploumen celebrated her new position as party leader quoting advice she received from her parents at an early age: “You are no more, but also no less than anyone else.”

Ploumen’s career in the PvdA started in 2003 after several years in the private sector, mostly as a market researcher. From 2007 to 2012 she was chairwoman of the party, and from 2012 to 2017 she acted as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation in the second Rutte government, in a coalition consisting of Rutte’s VVD and the PvdA. The alliance between the leftist PvdA and the liberal, right-wing VVD was criticized by many Labour voters at the time, and later reversed by the PvdA, which currently serves in the opposition. Now, Ploumen says that she would not be part of a cabinet unless it is joined by at least one other left-wing party, and states that she would prefer a cabinet without the VVD and its current coalition partner, the Christian-democrat CDA.

While still minister in 2017, Ploumen became famous internationally as the founder of “She Decides,” a nongovernmental organization devoted to raise funds for global initiatives to spread knowledge about contraception, family planning and abortion, especially in developing countries. This happened as a response to US president Donald Trump’s act of signing an executive order to forbid all US funding for those purposes, which created a vast financial gap in women and girls’ sexual and reproductive education around the world. After managing to get collaboration from several countries, Ploumen’s initiative raised several hundred million dollars to help compensate for the US’s decision. At the time, Ploumen was featured in a piece by the New York Times, and the unofficial tag of the international campaign became #PloumenforWomen.

On 18 January, when presented as the new leader of her party, Ploumen said that she had had some crazy days, but ultimately little doubt: “Politics is the way to change what is wrong, and being party leader is a great platform to accomplish that.”

Written by JuanAlvarez Umbarila

No more weed for tourists, Amsterdam mayor says

A trip to Amsterdam may be a post-COVID dream plan for many visitors, but if they are expecting to engage in some recreational weed smoking while in the city, mayor Femke Halsema is letting them know they should curb their enthusiasm.

The Green Party leader began 2021 by stating her desire to impose a ban on selling cannabis to foreigners visiting the Canal District in a near future, in a letter addressed to councillors. Attached to the letter was a survey in which 34% of tourists stated they would think twice about visiting Amsterdam if they were barred from buying weed in any of the city’s 166 coffee shops.

According to Halsema, the policy would serve as another attempt to control the city’s mass tourism problem. Prior to the pandemic, Amsterdam, a city of less than a million inhabitants, attracted around 19 million visitors each year. “There is a huge demand to get tourists under control,” the mayor has said. She believes that the Netherlands’ relaxed soft drug policy shouldn’t give way to “big groups of youngsters throwing up in the canals because they’ve had too much to smoke”. The measure would also serve to control the paradoxical “backdoor policy” which operates in the city, much like in the rest of the Netherlands – referring to the unregulated cultivation of cannabis, to be sold for public consumption.

A similar ban has already been put in place in the southern city of Maastricht, but, given Amsterdam’s world-renowned weed friendly reputation, the mayor’s suggestion has made a far greater splash in international news. The residency requirement would result in the reduction in the number of coffee shops, many of which serve mostly tourists. Halsema says that, according to recent studies, 73 of these establishments would suffice to meet local cannabis demand.

The suggestion is not new, but it is perhaps the closest it has been to being enforced; Halsema will discuss it further with the city council at the end of the month. The mayor’s announcement reflects a long-time desire to rid Amsterdam of its current international image, which often leads rowdy tourists to overlook the city’s cultural sites in favor of the red-light district and coffee shops. “Everyone knows Amsterdam - now it’s about improving the city’s reputation” said Nico Mulder, who founded the Enjoy & Respect campaign three years ago. “The coffee shops attract visitors who think everything is allowed in Amsterdam.” But not all are in agreement with Halsema’s push for a ban of tourists to the city’s coffee shops. Tom Nabben, a criminologist at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, has his reservations. He warns that denying tourists access to weed will only make them look for it elsewhere, encouraging street dealers. But Halsema remains focused on her plan, citing the police and the public prosecutor’s office, who are in full support of the measure. The mayor expects it to cause the tourist demand for soft drugs to decline. One is left wondering if tourist numbers will fall too. Halsema herself predicted that the city could expect up to 29 million visitors by 2025, but perhaps this measure will help to reduce these numbers.

Halsema’s announcement comes at a time in which Amsterdam is still under lockdown, due to the rise in new COVID-19 cases and the arrival of new variants over the holiday period. Despite the closure of all non-essential businesses, coffee shops remain open, under the condition they operate only as takeaways. The lockdown will last at least until 9 February. The Dutch government is strongly advising against foreigners to visit the country unless strictly necessary; travel from some countries, such as the UK, is banned completely.

If Halsema’s proposition goes through, Amsterdam may look like a very different destination to visitors in the near future. However, the mayor has stated that the measure will probably not be applied until sometime next year.

2020: a record year for the mortgage market

The year 2020 is one for the history books as it changed many aspects of our lives; the mortgage market was no exception. Never before have there been such low interest rates, such high house prices, so many people looking to renovate their homes, and such a significant increase in mortgage applications. Don’t mind the virus

While the world suffered major problems in 2020 because of Covid, the Dutch mortgage market didn’t seem to mind the virus and continued to grow. According to an inventory by market-leading mortgage broker De Hypotheker, the two main reasons for this increase are the low interest rate and the need for home improvements due to working from home amid the Covid-19-measures. And for now, De Hypotheker’s commercial director Menno Luiten expects this trend continue in 2021.

A crisis was expected in the mortgage market, but this did not materialize. Merlyn van den Berg, director of HDN, a data agency for mortgages, recalled that Covid led many experts to believe that the mortgage market would collapse. “But that did not happen, and even at the peak of Covid cases in March and April, mortgage applications poured in.”

Van den Berg explained that this unpredicted scenario came with a downside: the average home value rose sharply, making it difficult for first-time buyers and those using the National Mortgage Guarantee (NHG) to buy a home, as well as for entrepreneurs. Due to the tight housing market, the average mortgage amount rose by 7.9 percent to €312,000, while the average home value increased by 9.4 percent to €386,000. A record number of applications HDN registered a total of 535,375 mortgage applications in 2020, an increase of 24.5 percent compared to the previous peak year 2019, when there were 430,076 mortgage applications.

The number of applications for the purchase of a home increased to 303,789, representing an increase of 10.8 percent; the number of refinancing and second mortgages amounted to 231,586; of which 109,875 mortgages were refinances, while 63,126 homeowners applied for a second mortgage to renovate or make their homes more sustainable. This represents a rise of 48.5 percent more than in 2019. The main reason for the rise in refinancing and second mortgages is the historically low interest rate, making a mortgage more profitable than ever before.

Together, the total amount applied for in mortgages was over € 136 billion, of which € 3.1 billion was intended for renovations, twice the amount of 2019.

Zeeland takes the lead The buyer and non-buyer market grew the most in Zeeland in 2020, by 13.1 percent and 62.2 percent, respectively. In absolute numbers, Zuid-Holland is the number one province leader in the buyer’s market, with 53,665 applications. Only in Flevoland and Groningen the buyer’s market declined in the past year.

The future in the housing market According to De Volkskrant, just after the Covid outbreak, the two major mortgage lenders in the country, ABN Amro and Rabobank, weren’t very hopeful about the housing market. Nevertheless, more than half of all houses were sold for more than the asking price. Now, these banks expect an increase of 5 percent for 2021. Furthermore, it is expected that central banks will stick to low interest rates to promote the economic recovery after Covid.

Peter Boelhouwer, professor of the housing market at TU Delft, points out that there is a shortage of about 331,000 homes. “We still build far too little. With an estimated 65,000 building permits in the past year, we are still well below the desired minimum. So, prices will continue to rise.” Boelhouwer explained that this year’s changes in transfer tax also affect the market. First, the increase in the transfer tax from 2 to 8 percent for property investors will result in increased rents. And the abolition of the transfer tax for first-time buyers up to the age of 35, will probably mean that first-time buyers will be able to place higher bids, driving up prices even more.

Written by Bárbara Luque Alanís

Second lockdown threatens many sectors of the Dutch economy

With the introduction of the second lockdown in December 2020, several Dutch industries are facing the looming spectre of bankruptcy. Two industries have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 regulations: cultural institutions and retail, leaving museum directors and store owners struggling to develop creative ways to stay afloat.

Throughout the Netherlands, museums have struggled to continue operating under the rules implemented by the Dutch cabinet to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Repeated closures have forced several museums to delay planned exhibitions. The Groninger Museum’s long-awaited exhibition, The Rolling Stones – Unzipped, was postponed due to the first lockdown. And the Kunstmuseum Den Haag delayed the opening of an exhibition dedicated to Christian Dior’s work due to the impossibility of recouping the expenses, given the limited numbers of visitors permitted under the COVID-19 restrictions – by now, museums are closed completely, and the online experience cannot compare to viewing works of art in real life.

These delays created logistical logjams requiring museum directors to renegotiate contracts and work within scheduling limits imposed by the museum world’s international nature. The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam’s June Paik exhibition was scheduled to open during the first lockdown. The museum managed to extend the show, but only after renegotiating contracts with equipment providers and insurers. Kunstmuseum Den Haag’s exhibitions of works by Anders Zorn and Paula Modersohn-Beker were scheduled to run until the end of January. The museum had attempted to extend this period, since the second lockdown will shorten the availability of the works by over a month. Unfortunately, museums in Germany and Sweden had already entered into contracts to display the work, making extension impossible. Responding to the COVID-19 crisis has put many museums in a financial catch-22: cancelling and delaying exhibitions decreases the attractiveness of a museum visit, but at the same time the number of visits to cultural institutions has decreased by more than 50 percent. “We cannot reduce spending on the exhibition program by too much. Now that the Stedelijk is mostly dependent on the local public, we have to ensure that visitors regularly see new things,” explained Rein Wolfs, director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, to De Volkskrant. If the second lockdown ends as scheduled on 9 February (which seems unlikely), museums will have been closed for more than 150 days since COVID-19 first emerged as a public health threat last spring.

Store owners throughout the Netherlands are also struggling under the financial impact of the second lockdown, leading to frustrations. Stores selling non-essential products, such as clothing and electronics, have been forced to shut their doors from 15 December 2020, a situation much different from the spring, when these businesses remained open under restrictions. “Entrepreneurs are angry, frustrated and desperate. That is truly different than during the first wave,” says Udo Delfgou, director of INretail, the organization representing retail store owners.

The timing of the second lockdown, in mid-December, increased the impact of the second lockdown on the financial prospects of stores selling non-essential products. Stores were unable to open their doors during the most profitable season of the year, missing out on the Christmas shopping income. Some shops, such as perfume stores, make 50% of their income in the last two weeks of the year, and thus lost a great percentage of their earnings. Furthermore, shops could not sell already-purchased seasonal products like winter coats, warm jumpers and holiday decorations. Retailers are also struggling due to the virtual impossibility of cancelling previously-placed orders with their suppliers, even though they cannot actually sell these products, at least not in physical stores. And online shopping does not make up for the loss of sales from physical stores. “This lockdown costs me a million every day. Every day I get containers in with things from the Far East that I can not get rid of,” said Michael Witteveen, owner of Blokker, in an interview FD newspaper.

Many retailers are staying afloat thanks to government support package created for the COVID-19 crisis, including subsidies for wages and fixed costs. In addition, many struggling store owners took advantage of the option to delay the payment of taxes, rents and interest on loans. However, industry leaders fear that a wave of bankruptcies will follow once lenders start requesting repayment. Particularly physical stores will suffer, since they have been steadily losing ground to online commerce.

Written by Lorre Luther

FEBRUARY 2021 | 11

Dutch multinationals: government intervention required in recycling plastic

If a survey was conducted today asking people to choose just one thing that in their opinion is harming our planet the most, it would be safe to say that plastic will be mentioned by most of us. Plastic in its various forms has been in our lives since for the last 70 years and, no matter how hard we try, we are unable to get rid of it. It is so deeply ingrained in our everyday lives that the best we can do is use responsible plastic: recycled plastic.

The Dutch government started working on recycling measures as early as the 1980s. Municipalities were made responsible for waste collection and separation; the cost paid by citizens differed by municipality. Since 1994, municipalities were obliged to provide an infrastructure for the separate collection of glass, paper and textiles and since January 2010, they are obliged by law to collect plastic packaging separately. The government intensified its measures by applying a landfilling tax in 1995; an incineration tax was introduced in 2000.

So far, all methods seemed to be working, even though the Dutch were meeting only 50% of their recycling goals, instead of 65%. Until recently, the Netherlands conveniently shipped 95% of its plastic to China for processing. However, in 2018 China saw the error of its ways; their country was overwhelmed by pollution which it was not directly responsible for. Most of the plastic coming its way was low-quality and contaminated by food waste. China implemented a cut-off on all imports but the cleanest and highest grade – set at 99.5% purity standard. Many other South-east Asian countries tried to pick up some of the slack, but they were also soon overwhelmed and cut back on plastic imports.

The problem with recycling plastic is the shortage of good-quality recycled plastic. Processors of recycled plastic require large quantities of plastic, manufactured to strictly controlled specifications and at a competitive price, in order to produce new plastics. However, since plastics are easily customized to the needs (functional or aesthetic) of each manufacturer, the diversity of the raw material complicates the recycling process, making it costly and affecting the quality of the end product. In consequence, the demand for recycled plastics accounts for only 6% of plastic demand in Europe.

In 2018, European Commissioner Frans Timmermans presented his ‘Green Deal’ with plans to make Europe fully climate-neutral by 2050. Companies faced increasingly binding rules for this. For example, packaging must be fully recyclable by 2030 and part of the product must consist of recycled plastic.

But according to Philips, Shell, AkzoNobel, Heineken, DSM, Friesland Campina and KLM there is insufficient supply of goodquality recycled plastic to comply with these rules. “When you recycle, the quality usually decreases,” says Unilever CEO Annemarieke de Haan. “Innovation is needed to get more plastic of better quality, but the financial incentives are lacking. It is absurd that recycled plastic is currently more expensive than new.”

It’s sort of a chicken-and-egg story. While the government has ambitious plans and is asking the big multinationals to be more effective in their recycling endeavours, the companies say that they need effective legislation and better collection systems. Waste collection systems vary so much from municipality to municipality that recycling waste becomes difficult and using recycled plastics ends up being much more expensive than using new material. Parliament is already asking for a tax on plastic. It argues that companies must agree to this increase in cost and absorb it as a part of their own recycling goals. This much is clear: we need better standards for plastic, and government intervention is required, sooner rather than later. New plastic must be of high quality and should be 100% recyclable. The big companies seem to have the same idea. A couple of years back, eleven multinationals, including Coca-Cola and Unilever, promised at the World Economic Forum in Davos to produce their packaging in such a way that it is fully recyclable by 2025. We will have to wait and see whether these companies will come through on their promises. If some drastic measures are not taken very soon, in the fairly near future, we all might find ourselves in a notso-shallow plastic grave.

Written by Priyanka Sharma

Millennials are getting richer quickly, thanks to the baby boomers

In 1992, the Dutch sociologist Henk Becker pigeon-holed four distinctive generations in Dutch society in the late twentieth century: the Pre-War generation (born 1910-1930); the Quiet Generation (19301940); the Protest Generation (19401955), and the Lost Generation (19551970). US sociologists have specified three slightly different generations: the Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964); Generation X (1965-1980), and Generation Y or the Millennials (1980-1994). Becker argues that each generation is defined by its outlook on life and chances of succeeding in society’s economic and demographic circumstances, measured when someone is around 17 years old. If you belong to a generation that comes of age in wealth and prosperity, you are likely to have an optimistic outlook for the rest of your life, whereas if you grow up in economically hard times, you’ll initially be apprehensive and continue to see doom and gloom, even when things get better.

When the baby boomers entered the labour market in the 1960s and 1970s, they experienced a golden age. The economy was booming, incomes were on the rise continuously, the standard of living had grown as never before, and job security was at its highest. When Generation X entered the labour market in the 1980s, there was high unemployment, low job security, and government spending for education was slashed. The Millennials, who came of age at the turn of the millennium (hence the name), experienced the crash of the dot.com bubble (2001) and credit crisis (2008). As a result, their generation had to endure high unemployment, low job security, difficulties in buying a home, and, of course, were bogged down by huge student loan debts after years of government budget cuts in education.

Hands down, baby boomers had it the best in the 20th century. Numbering more than 3.1 million people in the Netherlands, this generation accounts for approximately 20% of the total population, and they are the most affluent. However, as they are headed towards the end of their life, their children – primarily the Millennials – stand to inherit the lion’s share of their wealth. According to a 2017 study, the average retired couple in the Netherlands owned approximately €113,000. Another study suggests that half of those households had more than a €100,000, and 11% more than half a million euros. In the US, baby boomers are estimated to leave 45 million trillion dollars to the next generation. Economists call it the ‘great transfer wealth’ and foresee huge changes in the economy.

Investment managers are already witnessing the average age of their customers getting younger. In the past, customers used to be in their 60s, now they are pushing 50. In comparison to baby boomers, Millennials are a different breed of investors. For one, a big trend among Millennial shareholders is having active ownership, where they invest in companies that allow them to have a voice and active dialogue via shareholder meetings. The second trend is impact investing, where they invest in companies and organizations that not only generate a financial return, but also are socially and environmentally beneficial. Thus, sustainability is a common denominator. Thirdly, as Millennials grew up with computers and internet, they are likely to research their investments more thoroughly than their baby-boomer parents did in the past. Millennial investors are more likely to steer away from stocks and bonds, and are entering other markets, which economists predict will ultimately shift the entire economy in the future.

However, according to Forbes, not all of the baby boomers’ wealth will be inherited by their children and grandchildren. As the baby boomers grew up in an era of wealth and prosperity, they are also accustomed to taking vacations and a life of leisure. As public spending for health and medical services is continuously being scaled back, there is a good chance their wealth will also be spent on daily expenses, health services and medical bills. Moreover, around 19% of the baby boomers are not planning or not able to leave any inheritance for their children at all. So, if you are a Millennial, don’t give up your job, just yet.