The Netherlands urgently needs to decide what kind of economy it wants to be

The Dutch caretaker cabinet has cobbled together a plan to woo ASML, NXP and other Brainport Eindhoven companies. A sizable contribution to the infrastructure, housing and education of the region is meant to ease the pain of ‘unfriendly’ measures adopted by parliament last year. (Partially) reversing those is on the agenda as well.

There’s something uncomfortable about multinationals with billions of euros in profits expecting governments to be at their beck and call. Sure, the anger over throttling the inflow of foreign students and expats is completely justified – talent is the lifeblood of the high-tech industry. But in other areas, the Netherlands is a pretty good place to be. For example, ASML won’t find a better home base when it comes to profit taxes. “The rate can’t be lower, ASML is crying crocodile tears,” tax law professor Jan van de Streek told RTL Nieuws (link in Dutch).