Cultivated-meat plant of Good Meat in Alameda, California (Just Eat)
When I wrote about the three mistakes people make about cultivated meat — comparing its current price to that of traditional (and subsidized) meat, comparing cultivated meat to a perfect world, and betting against progress — I also pointed out the industry does have real challenges:
Growing more than muscle fibers in order to make complex meats, like steaks.
Cultivating meat at scale.
Getting regulatory and political approval.
I investigated those challenges for Nieuwe Oogst, a Dutch agrarian magazine. Here is a summary for English readers. (more…)
Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt makes a speech in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, June 26, 2019 (Council of Europe/ Ellen Wuibaux)
Dutch parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt has thrown the November election in the Netherlands wide open by announcing the formation of a new political party.
His New Social Contract would replace the conservative Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) as one of the three parties vying for first place. The others are outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), led by Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz, and the joint Labor Party-Green list, led by EU commissioner Frans Timmermans.
Omtzigt would cut support for the BBB in half, reducing the agrarians to sharing fourth place with Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party (PVV).
Omtzigt’s unconventional mix of left- and right-wing policies would also enable him to lure voters away from the Socialists. And it opens up more possibilities for a coalition government after the election. (more…)
Dutch, Italian and Spanish socialist party leaders Frans Timmermans, Nicola Zingaretti and Pedro Sánchez meet in Brussels, March 21, 2019 (PES)
The Dutch parliamentary elections in November are shaping up to become a three-way race.
Outgoing prime minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is neck and neck in the polls with the conservative Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) and a joint list of the Labor Party and Greens. All three have between 15 and 18 percent support.
Geert Wilders’ nationalist Freedom Party is polling in fourth place with 9 to 12 percent. Ten other parties are below 7 percent.
That makes it hard to imagine a coalition government that doesn’t include at least two of the three largest parties. The VVD (of which I am a member) may need to choose between a coalition with the right or the left. Both pose risks. Either would require a third and probably a fourth party for majority. (more…)
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte arrives in Brussels to meet with other European leaders, February 12, 2015 (European Council)
Mark Rutte stunned the Dutch parliament on Monday, when he told lawmakers he would not seek his center-right party’s nomination for a fifth term as prime minister.
Rutte had already submitted his resignation to King Willem-Alexander after the four parties in his government failed to do a deal on asylum reform, but he left the door open in a news conference on Friday to running again.
In power for thirteen years, Rutte is Europe’s longest-serving elected leader after Viktor Orbán. His surprise exit, combined with the meteoric rise of a new farmers’ party and the likely merger of the Labor Party and Greens, could redraw the Dutch political landscape, which has been dominated by Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) for thirteen years.
Rutte stays on as caretaker until a successor can be sworn in, which could be a year from now. Elections aren’t due until November. Forming a coalition government in the Netherlands usually requires months of negotiation. Reforms in agriculture, housing and labor law may be put on hold in the meantime. (more…)
Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag and Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands listen to a debate in parliament in The Hague, September 21, 2022 (ANP/Sem van der Wal)
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte announced the dissolution of his fourth cabinet on Friday after two days of negotiations that ran deep into the night on Thursday failed to unite the ruling parties behind a plan to reform asylum law.
Rutte’s center-right VVD (of which I am a member) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) had demanded reforms to reduce immigration, which reached a record 400,000 last year. The Christian Union and left-liberal D66 would not support stricter rules for family reunification.
Rutte tendered his resignation to King Willem-Alexander, who returned from holiday in Greece, on Saturday. He stays on as caretaker prime minister until a new government can be formed. Elections are expected to be held in November.
Rutte’s VVD is neck and neck in the polls with the right-wing Farmer-Citizen Movement. It won the provincial elections in March. (more…)
German finance minister and Free Democratic Party leader Christian Lindner boards a government plane to Washington DC, April 22, 2022 (Bundesfinanzministerium)
Germany’s Free Democrats are turning their backs on climate and sustainability. Across the border in the Netherlands, by contrast, a liberal-led government has accelerated its program to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The Dutch coalition — which includes two Christian democratic and a left-liberal party in addition to the Free Democrats’ ally VVD — is raising taxes on coal use and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in order to pay for subsidies on green hydrogen, solar panels and secondhand electric cars. It is also banning most gas-powered boilers in favor of electric heat pumps by 2027.
The German liberals resist a similar ban. They nearly torpedoed an EU phaseout of diesel and petrol cars. (more…)
Muntplein in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, March 27, 2021 (Unsplash/Ruben Hanssen)
The Netherlands is becoming a case study in how not to regulate rents. An expansion of rent control is driving investors and landlords to despair. Appeals by banks, pension funds, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are falling on deaf ears in The Hague.
The European Commission is the latest international body to urge the Dutch government to reconsider. In its annual policy recommendations to member states, it cautions the Netherlands that its “policies regarding the private rental market risk undermining its development.”
[T]he private rental market is relatively small, which results in a limited supply of affordable and available alternatives to buying a house. The lack of affordable rental housing also undermines labor mobility.
There are 440,000 job openings. 360,000 Dutch people are still unemployed. A shortage of affordable housing, especially in major cities, is a factor. The average waiting time for a nonprofit social-housing apartment in Amsterdam is thirteen years. Yet the government would make it less lucrative to rent out homes for profit. (more…)
Dutch justice minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius inspects a prison in Vught, June 9, 2022 (LinkedIn)
The Dutch city of Rotterdam has been rocked by attacks on homes and stores. More explosions were reported in the first four months of this year than during the whole of 2022. The perpetrators, suspected to be drug criminals, have used fireworks, improved explosive devices and hand grenades.
According to local politician Vincent Karremans, who is in the same liberal party as me, one in four of suspects are under the age of 18.
Here in Amsterdam, police have also seen in an increase in teenagers selling drugs and taking part in drug-related violence, even assassinations. They are usually boys of Moroccan, Turkish or another immigrant descent.
The knee-jerk reaction on the right is to escalate the drug war. Give more money to customs and police. Weaken privacy rights, so police can tap phones without a warrant and share information on suspects with non-judicial agencies. Lengthen prison sentences for drug crimes.
But even Karremans, who is in favor of repression, knows: “that also causes unrest.” When the police get better at their jobs, so do criminals. The recent attacks in Rotterdam — some have been on the homes of family members of suspected drug dealers — follow the arrest and prosecution of prominent drug lords.
I argue in the Dutch newsletter De Nieuwe Vrije Eeuw that it’s time to rethink our policy. (more…)
American president Ronald Reagan at Rancho Del Cielo in California, August 31, 1985 (Ronald Reagan Presidential Library)
Ronald Reagan once quipped about government’s view of the economy: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
For the American president, it was a cautionary tale. In the newspaper Trouw, I argue the Dutch government seems to have mistaken it for advice. (more…)
German health minister Karl Lauterbach has had to scale back his plan for cannabis legalization.
Rather than allow Germans to buy up to 30 grams of weed in specialized stores, they could buy a maximum of 25 grams in “clubs” of 500 members.
There would also be a limit on the level of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, a psychoactive substance) in weed sold to users aged 18 to 21.
Anyone could still grow up to three cannabis plants at home. Criminal records for possession and self-cultivation would be expunged if the bill is accepted by the Bundestag. (more…)
European commissioner Thierry Breton is welcomed by Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte in his office in The Hague, September 9, 2022 (European Commission)
Mark Rutte’s coalition government in the Netherlands has agreed various spending reforms and additional climate policies to keep its budget deficit under 3 percent and achieve a 55-percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
The four ruling parties — two liberal, two Christian democrat — were in a rush to do a deal before parliament goes on summer recess.
Negotiations resulted in a delay in child-care reform, an expansion of hydrogen and solar power, and higher subsidies for home insulation and secondhand electric cars, paid for in part by raising taxes on coal use and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.
Rutte’s VVD (of which I am a member) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) blocked higher taxes on petrol and meat. (more…)
Dutch fishing boat trawling for mussels in the North Sea, April 20, 2020 (Unsplash/Paul Einerhand)
The European Commission is advising member states to tap into EU innovation and rural development funds to compensate fishers who will lose out if bottom trawling is banned.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, the Lithuanian commissioner for oceans and fisheries, has proposed to phase out bottom trawling, also known as dragging, in 30 percent of EU waters.
The better policy would be to reverse a ban on electric pulse fishing, which allows fishers to catch sole and other flatfish without ploughing the seafloor. (more…)
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte arrives to a meeting of European leaders in Brussels, December 15, 2022 (European Council)
The ruling parties in the Netherlands are in a rush to do a budget deal before parliament goes on summer recess.
In addition to spending, the four parties — two liberal, two Christian democrat — need to agree on asylum reform, more ambitious climate legislation and a resolution to the Netherlands’ farm crisis.
The issues are connected. Raising climate-related taxes, for example on diesel or meat, could stave off spending cuts. Reducing ammonia pollution from farms unlocks permits needed to build homes for refugees. (more…)
Belgian and Dutch police have got more money to interdict drug smuggling in the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam. Record amounts of cocaine were seized in 2022.
Yet the black-market price of cocaine is unchanged. Factoring in inflation, the drug has arguably become cheaper.
An analysis of European wastewater suggests that cocaine use in major cities, including those of the Low Countries, has increased.
“We are in a tunnel, where more and more resources are being allocated with no discernible result,” argues Bob Hoogenboom, a professor in police studies at the University of Amsterdam. Hoogenboom is also a co-founder of the Dutch branch of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit of former police officers and prosecutors who want to end the drug war.
So far, their appeals have fallen on deaf ears. (more…)
