“The reputational damage to the technology sector has already been done.”

ASML needs a lot of smart people and there are very few of them in the Netherlands. To have sufficient innovation capacity, you also need people of other nationalities. Paul Verhagen of the Hague Center for Strategic Studies says anything that prevents immigration could cause problems. “If you start adjusting the innovation capacity within Europe, you will fall further and further behind.”

ASML is very concerned about the election results: both the PVV and NSC want to make it difficult for companies to hire knowledgeable migrants. The chip machine manufacturer is considered the Dutch geopolitical trump card in the race between the Americans, the Chinese and the Europeans. “If you start manipulating ASML’s ability to innovate within Europe by achieving a close target or immigration balance, it is highly questionable whether Dutch technology can remain truly innovative.”

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The problems start with limiting expatriates’ access to ASML. If foreign students are not then attracted to the Netherlands and limited to English language teaching, the path will become very narrow, says Verhagen. This problem also threatens companies such as Booking.com and Google. “Everything related to technology depends on foreign students or foreign expatriates.”

Problems surrounding Britain’s exit from the European Union

If you start working gradually, “the devil is in the details,” says Verhagen. The PVV and NSC programs are not counted by CPB. Therefore, the big question remains: How do you want to limit immigration? “What will you do, stop immigration completely or return?” Then you have all the problems surrounding Brexit, while ASML is very much integrated into the European economy. And then you also have a logistical problem. Therefore, in every possible field, you encounter only difficulties and no advantages.

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In this way, you are essentially throwing the baby out with the bathwater: despite huge investments in such a company, it suddenly can no longer innovate for political reasons, while the Chinese and American trains continue to roar. “Then you will fall behind and that will be a problem. The election of the Freedom Party is a real signal to foreigners that they may not be as welcome here as they thought. Why go to the Netherlands with a xenophobic government, instead of to Germany or the United States?”

Problems with immigration

According to Verhagen, it is good to realize that there are all kinds of problems related to immigration in the United States, except for the technology sector. Many CEOs come from India or other countries. This is the picture you have to deal with. Even if everything remains the same, the damage to our image has already been done. In addition, we are entering a period of political instability. Businesses don’t like that: they want to know where they stand so they can plan for the long term. Therefore formation for one more year is not desirable.