Enterprising Netherlands: 2G only way forward
It seems that the closing time of catering and non-essential shops will be brought forward to 19:00. ‘A hard blow for many entrepreneurs’, says Hans Biesheuvel, chairman of Ondernemend Nederland.
‘It is called a mild lockdown, but this does not feel mild if you have to close at 7 p.m. as a catering business,’ says Biesheuvel. This week I had conversations in The Hague about the enormous burden. Twenty billion in tax debt and several billion in other debts still outstanding with entrepreneurs. They have no fat on the bones, so their resilience is simply very low, also mentally.’
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The new measures remind Biesheuvel of a year ago, when strict rules were also introduced after the summer. “Then the first announcement was that the catering industry would close for two weeks. That was seven or eight months. That fear is now also in many entrepreneurs. Are we going to have the same autumn and winter as last year?’
2G carrier
After the three weeks of steps, the cabinet would like to switch to the 2G model. This means that vaccinated people and people who have had corona can only receive a QR code. ‘That is very difficult,’ says Biesheuvel. You don’t want that as a retailer, you don’t want that as an employer, that you create a divide among your customers and your employees. That feels very difficult. reduce, if we continue like this, if you go from lockdown to lockdown, that won’t work either.’
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The 2G rules are already in force in Austria and more German federal states, among others, and more European countries are considering this strategy. ‘I fear it is the only way forward,’ says Biesheuvel. ‘Because the only way out is really to vaccinate. Whether you basically like it or not. We see it in Spain and Portugal. The vaccination rate there is many times higher and the hospitals there are not full at all. So it works. That’s why I think 2G is a very good solution. But again: then it has to happen and start that you don’t come up against your own customers.’
financial support
On October 1, the cabinet stopped all general financial support measures. If it is up to Biesheuvel, new support esh is inevitable. ‘You cannot expect a large proportion of SME entrepreneurs, especially entrepreneurs in the catering and events sector, to be able to absorb this blow independently. That’s just really not possible. This blow really can’t be cushioned.’
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It is not clear whether outgoing Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra will actually come up with new support, ‘but he will have to’, is Biesheuvel firmly. “There is such resistance to politics at the moment. There is so little faith in what men out there are doing right now. It will really have to come to keep things going. The sector that has been hit hardest will now be the first to be hit again. Then you will have to give hard support, it’s as simple as that.’