The cabinet is helping VDL Nedcar with the search for a new customer and is willing to play a major role in this. But Minister Eric Wiebes (Economic Affairs) is going too far to sit in the driver’s seat and “take over control”.
Limburg MPs urged Wiebes to plan a cabinet to be more actively involved with VDL Nedcar. Car manufacturer BMW announced last month that it would stop producing cars in the Limburg car factory from 2023. Wiebes promised that central government, the province and the municipality will actively interfere in the VDL Nedcar search. He also wants to look at rules that stand in the way of finding a new client. “But controlling the future of an individual company is not possible.”
According to DENK Member of Parliament Selçuk Öztürk, the cabinet does nothing else on trade missions than acquiring new partners and companies. “That’s normal,” he says. PVV member Dion Graus is asking the cabinet to produce an “integral plan in collaboration with the province, municipality, knowledge and educational institutions, in which the cabinet takes the lead”.
Member of Parliament Mustafa Amhaouch (CDA) points out the great importance of VDL Nedcar. If the factory does not have a client, this will not only affect the 5,000 employees, but the entire car industry in South and Central Limburg. “This requires an active directing role, beyond just contacts.”
The cabinet does much more than just bring parties together, says Wiebes. The importance is too great for that. VDL Nedcar also plays an important role in the Dutch economy. “A much greater coordination role is needed,” said the minister. “The only point I object to is the idea that, in the eventual business plan of a company, the government will hold on to the pen. That’s pedantic, that’s going too far, that’s not allowed.”