€34.5 billion shortage for infrastructure maintenance A recent article in Cobouw carried the headline: Alarming funding shortage for maintaining infrastructure. The Dutch Court of Audit points to a €34.5 billion gap in the national government’s draft budget. In the budget debates, the only remedy found was a reshuffling of funds. If the shortage means renovations …
The Double Challenge Facing the Infrastructure Sector The NATO Summit in The Hague marks a new reality for the infrastructure sector. While municipalities, provinces and Rijkswaterstaat (the Dutch equivalent of National Highways) are deeply engaged in renovating post-war infrastructure, a second, urgent task has emerged: preparing for the possibility of a large-scale military crisis. At …
Soft power Europe, in a world where hard power rules, must quickly shift from soft power to smart power to maintain its standard of living and, above all, its security. Since the USA became the dominant force in the world after WWII, Europe has suited itself in the role of soft power. Soft power is …
Europe has so much history that there is no room for the future I hope you have found peace and lightness around Christmas and New Year’s Eve with your family, your friends and also within yourself. I myself have found time to read about topics that interest and concern me: innovation and Europe. Thus, I …