No longer Royal and no longer Dutch: Shell leaving the Netherlands
The shareholders of Royal Dutch Shell are voting today on the definitive move from The Hague to London. The oil and gas company is expected to leave and no more Royal and not like that anymore Dutch will be. It is then the second big name to leave the Netherlands after Unilever.
And with that, the discussion about the business climate in the Netherlands is getting underway again. The Netherlands is not doing badly in the rankings. But according to the association of entrepreneurs VNO-NCW, this is viewed in the rear-view mirror, because those lists are drawn up on the basis of past performance. The association a manifest to the informants.
“We have many agreements between companies that develop, but they will continue to do so and that they will still make new investments in the Netherlands. This is partly due to the instability of government policy, great regulatory pressure and the negative sentiment against the industry”, says Ingrid Thijssen, chairman of VNO-NCW.
And Barbara Baarsma, professor at the University of Amsterdam, agrees. “The Netherlands is much more actively committed to the climate, improving policy. Regulations are death in implementation for, for example, sustainability investments.”
Schiphol
According to Baarsma, the great pressure from the social debate may have played a role in Shell’s decision. “Shell others are leaving mainly because it has already been one in the UK. But Shell’s sustainability agenda is under pressure due to the lost lost against Milieudefensie.”
And according to Bas, director of the economic research bureau SEO, they also need to be developed. “Look at Schiphol: it is polluting, but all those companies around it and without the airport have never been there. If a company establishes itself somewhere, it has a flywheel effect.”
Because large companies that establish themselves in the Netherlands also provide more employment, according to Ter Weel. And hotels or cultural facilities can also benefit from this.
And then good facilities such as education, care and defense are important. Ter Weel: “We are well off in the Netherlands, but the basics must remain in order. You can only achieve that with sufficient tax revenue. And that comes from productive companies that employ people and innovate.”
No mass exodus
Professor Baarsma thinks the departure of Unilever and Shell is a loss for the Netherlands, but we need not worry about a mass exodus of companies, according to her. “At Shell and Unilever, the Dutch business climate played a major role, but Brexit because both are both British and Dutch. And tax reasons will have played a role in the choice between the Netherlands and the UK.”
Because for Unilever and Shell, the dividend tax was the culprit. For example, Shell would have opted for the Netherlands in 2005, because the cabinet had promised to abolish the dividend tax. But when it became clear that the dividend withholding tax would remain in effect, Unilever discussed moving to London last year. And Shell is likely to follow suit.
You can see exactly what the dividend tax is all about in this video: