“Industrial policy determines our future, not the housing shortage”

How can the Dutch economy stay afloat in a world on fire? With a war on our continent, a trade conflict with the United States, and a China whose trade practices push aside every competitor, it is clear that geopolitics and economics are inseparably linked. That is what the Dutch elections should really be about.

Mark Sanders, professor of international economics at Maastricht University, argues that a European industrial policy will determine our future. His op-ed was published in the daily newspaper De Limburger and is part of a Studio Europa Maastricht series on the European dimension of the Dutch parliamentary elections.

“The debate about the Dutch economy cannot be separated from the European one. In Brussels, the conviction since the now-famous Draghi report is that Europe will fall back to second- (or third-) tier status without an ambitious industrial policy. Since the publication of this report, proposals from the European Commission have been piling up: investments in defense, energy security, and innovation. We are witnessing the birth of a genuine European industrial policy.”

 Read the entire article (in Dutch) on the website of Studio Europa Maastricht.