Political landscape
After 14 years as Prime Minister, Mark Rutte did not stand for re-election in the consecutive early elections of 2023. Although far-right leader Geert Wilders won the election, Dick Schoof ultimately took over as Prime Minister, heading a right-wing coalition government (PVV, VVD, NSC and BBB).
Housing, an insoluble problem
The Netherlands in general, and Amsterdam in particular, have been facing a serious housing problem for several years now. Prices have skyrocketed, and young professionals are simply not able to buy their own homes in many cities... This highly problematic situation, coupled with a labor shortage, seems to be here to stay, and is putting a huge strain on the economy. During your visit, you'll probably notice the limited opening hours of some bars and restaurants. This is just one manifestation of the complex situation slowing down the economy. For the country as a whole, the repercussions in the education and healthcare sectors are enormous.
Farmers at the heart of current issues
The Netherlands has the most efficient agriculture in the European Union. The kingdom is at the forefront of technical innovations to make the sector even more efficient. In recent years, serious health scandals have brought the country into disrepute. Recently, the country virtually put an end to intensive livestock farming. The government has taken measures to force farmers to reduce their nitrogen emissions or to convert. The recent coalition released a €25 billion budget to help the sector reduce the greenhouse gases emitted by fertilizers and effluents. These measures, which can go as far as expropriation, have generated huge protests from farmers since 2019.
Mark Rutte, Mr Teflon or the man without quality?
Despite 14 years at the helm of the Dutch government (from 2010 to 2024), Mark Rutte remains an enigma. Few things seem to affect him, so much so that he has been dubbed "Mr Teflon" by some specialists. Indeed, he seems to resist everything: unlikely coalitions with the agreement of an extreme party, various scandals, his fluctuating management of the Covid crisis... He stands his ground, and everything seems to slide on his perfectly tailored suits. Since the Brexit, it is he who, within Europe, has become Mr. "No", leader of the so-called frugal countries. These countries did not want to unconditionally help European countries during the Covid crisis. His attitude, reviled in Europe, was appreciated by many in the country where social reforms and the extension of the retirement age were introduced a long time ago. In March 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, he and his liberal VVD party even managed to win re-election. His management of Covid has been nothing but perfectly controlled and documented U-turns. Recently, he has been criticized for his lack of enthusiasm and enthusiasm for the war in Ukraine... And the latest controversy concerns his "drastic" management of SMS messages, which he deletes as soon as they are received, preventing any investigation into his actions. The longest-serving head of government in Dutch history, he resigned in July 2023. Since 2024, he has been Secretary General of NATO.
Main resources of the country
The country's main resources are agriculture, fishing and industry.
Agriculture: the Dutch miracle. Despite its size, the Netherlands is the world's third-largest exporter of agricultural products. Dairy farming and horticulture are two of the country's leading sectors. Around 5% of the working population in the Netherlands is employed in agriculture, which generates some 3.5% of GDP. Around 80% of agricultural products are exported to EU countries, mainly Germany. Intensive livestock farming (fortunately increasingly denounced), market gardening and bulb farming, and the dairy industry are all strongly export-oriented. Horticulture is a growing industry, both economically and in terms of cultivated area. The main products are flowers, vegetables, fruit, mushrooms, trees and flower bulbs. In recent months, the livestock sector has been in crisis as a result of the government's 30% livestock reduction target. This measure aims to limit nitrogen oxide emissions to meet the country's green objectives for 2030.
Fishing. The main branches of professional fishing in the Netherlands are deep-sea and inshore fishing, plus shellfish farming, inland fishing and aquaculture. The Netherlands has a modern fleet of trawlers and cutters. Cutters are used to catch plaice, sole, cod, whiting, herring and shrimp. Shellfish are grown mainly in Zeeland (in the southwest of the Netherlands) and in the Wadden Sea. The main fishing ports are Ijmuiden, Scheveningen and Urk.
Industry. The only open-cast mines in the Netherlands are for cheap materials: gravel, sand, clay, marl and limestone. The subsoil is rich in oil, gas, coal and salt (the discovery of natural gas led to the closure of coal mines). The exploitation of natural gas is considerable, both on the mainland and in the North Sea, reaching its peak in 1979. The exploitation of considerable natural gas reserves in the north of the country, around Groningen, has made the Netherlands the leading producer of natural gas in Western Europe. The end of this exploitation, announced in 2018 for 2030, is motivated by repeated earthquakes in the region.
Last but not least, the entire western sector of Amsterdam harbor is a gigantic petrochemical complex, home to numerous industries. The transport of oil by pipeline to the port of Rotterdam has contributed to the development of Amsterdam's industrial zone (some 15,000 companies), which remains the country's largest industrial city. In addition to chemicals, the aeronautical, automotive, electrical engineering, machine and tool industries and other companies specializing in precision mechanics are doing well and provide the bulk of industrial output. While Amsterdam is the diamond capital, its expertise in the art of woodworking and leatherworking is remarkable, and its soap factories are the oldest in the city.
Tourism, a controversial windfall
While the Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, is a very popular tourist destination, this sector is also a source of exasperation for many locals. Indeed, the country is an accessible destination with an inexhaustible wealth of heritage. Amsterdam has many of the cultural and social advantages of a capital city, but none of the disadvantages. The city is small and can be explored on foot. The presence of bicycles adds a pleasant and healthy touch. The city is much less tiring and stressful than other major European cities, and its inhabitants seem to enjoy a quality of life that many Parisians would envy! However, the capital is suffering from its popularity, and the council has had to take action as mass tourism is threatening the capital. Airbnb is now regulated, horse-drawn carriages and other aberrations are banned, as are electric scooters... The center has put a stop to new hotels in the hypercenter.
The number of foreign tourists visiting the country is rising steadily. In 2019, over 20 million tourists visited the Netherlands, most of them from Europe. The Netherlands is a very popular destination among Germans, while Americans, Britons, Belgians, Canadians and French are also numerous visitors to the other land of cheese. Over the past fifteen years, the country has also attracted a growing number of tourists from Italy and Spain, as well as many Eastern Europeans, notably Czechs and Russians, and Asians. Chinese tourists are increasingly present.
These visitors spend over 32 billion euros during their stay. Tourists spend very short vacations in the Netherlands, with the average stay lasting 3.2 nights and often limited to a visit to Amsterdam.
Finally, it should be pointed out that the tourists most likely to visit the Netherlands are the Dutch themselves, who account for 25 million tourists.
Political parties
The electoral system - full proportional representation - favors the existence of a multitude of parties. In the 2023 parliamentary elections, Geert Wilders' PVV (Partij voor de Vrijheid, Party for Freedom), a nationalist, Islamophobic and anti-immigration party, came out on top with 37 seats. The Labor Party-Green Left alliance (PvdA/GL) won 25, while the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) took 24.
PVV. Geert Wilders' conservative, nationalist (and clearly anti-Islam) Partij van de Vrijheid is now represented in Parliament, appealing to former Fortuyn voters and those who find the VVD too centrist.
The PvdA. Founded in 1946, the Labor Party (PvdA) grew out of the trade union movement. A social-democrat party, it draws its electorate from all strata of the population. In 2023, it joined forces with the Green Left (GL) to compete with the VVD.
The liberals of the VVD, founded in 1948, claim to be the descendants of Thorbecke, the father of the 1848 constitutional amendment. As for the CDA, it was born of the merger of three Christian parties.
Other parties represented in Parliament include the liberal Démocrates 66 (D66), the strict Calvinists (SGP and Christen Unie) and, to the left of the PvdA, the SP (Socialist Party), as well as the Mouvement agriculteur-citoyen (BBB), Denk (a movement of Turkish origin that emerged from the PVDA) and Forum voor Democratie, a right-wing populist and eurosceptic party headed by Thierry Baudet.
