The Netherlands is caught in a digital paradox. While the world is rapidly digitizing and artificial intelligence, chips, and data centers have become the new geopolitical raw materials, election manifestos remain conspicuously silent about this foundation of our economy and society. Fortunately, digital issues are being addressed, but often perfunctorily and tucked away at the back.
This relative silence stands in stark contrast to reality. The Netherlands is no small player in the digital domain. ASML, the largest company still based in the Netherlands, is a key player in the global chip industry. Brainport Eindhoven is one of Europe’s most powerful innovation clusters, and the Amsterdam region is one of the strongest data center and data hubs in continental Europe. These are not side issues. They form the backbone of our future earning capacity and the basis of our strategic autonomy.
Yet the party programs lack the conviction that digitization and technology are an integral part of every social agenda. This is not just a missed opportunity; it is a risk for our country. Without The Hague realizing it, the Netherlands has a strategic position in the global digital economy. Our politicians are in danger of overlooking a crucial insight: without digital clout, no election promise can be fulfilled: not healthcare, not the energy transition, not security.
The hidden chapter
Anyone who reads the programs will see a pattern. Digitization is only addressed late in the day and is considered in a one-sided manner. In the BBB program, “Innovation and Digitization” only comes up once most of the traditional themes have already been ticked off. In the SP program, digitization only appears under the heading “Democracy, digital too,” a concluding paragraph in which the internet is mainly seen as an administrative challenge. More than other parties, the VVD opts for an economic anchoring of digitization, with strong ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence and quantum technology. But even for that party, it remains largely a growth story, without a supported vision of the impact on healthcare, education, defense, and climate.
Volt is a positive exception: its program exudes technology and advocates for Silicon Europe through European digital industrial policy. A number of parties, including the PVV, pay little or no attention to digital infrastructure. In doing so, they ignore a pillar of the Dutch economy.
A fundamental misconception
This exposes a fundamental misconception: digitization is not a separate policy area that can be added or omitted at will. It is the foundation that underpins all other policy areas. Without a robust digital infrastructure, the energy transition will stall. Without high-quality data and computing power, healthcare will not be future-proof. Without cybersecurity, education, defense, and our democracy will be vulnerable.
This insight does not seem to have sufficiently penetrated The Hague. Even parties that acknowledge the urgency of the issue still relegate it to the margins of their programs. It is as if they accept that digitization is important, but fail to elevate it to a strategic priority.
Unfortunately, the digital blind spot is not only found in the programs. It seems that almost all current members of parliament who are actively involved in digital issues are either missing from the candidate lists or have been relegated to positions that give them little chance of being re-elected. This further emphasizes the gap between the widely recognized importance of digital transformation and the political priority given to the expertise needed to guide that transition.
International context
It is precisely this lack of priority that is worrying, because elsewhere in the world there is a clear awareness of the issue. The United States is investing hundreds of billions in AI clusters, cloud infrastructure, and the semiconductor industry. China is integrating digital sovereignty into its national strategy and explicitly linking technology to geopolitical power. Europe and the Netherlands cannot afford to remain spectators. Yet the election programs show little sense of urgency, and the Netherlands is on its way to becoming the laggard of Europe in the digital arena.
The contrast is painful. While Washington and Beijing consider digitization to be a geopolitical core issue, The Hague still treats it as a sectoral footnote.
From footnote to backbone
The digital paradox is therefore twofold: virtually all parties implicitly recognize that digitization is vital, but almost no one treats it as such. It appears in the texts, but rarely at the top of the list of priorities. Parties such as the VVD and JA21, which advocate investment in AI and quantum technology, see this as an engine for economic growth, not as the foundation of healthcare, our security, and education.
This has to change. Digitization must move from the appendix of the political program to the heart of the political vision. It requires the same urgency and systemic approach with which we view energy security, defense, or financial stability. Because in the 21st century, digital is not just one theme among many. It is the infrastructure on which all themes rest.
The call to action
The question is not whether digitization is important, but whether we actually treat it as such. As long as digitization remains relegated to the back chapters of election programs, we are writing ourselves out of the future.
The Netherlands cannot afford that. A country that is home to ASML, Brainport, and one of the strongest data centers and data hubs in Europe should not reduce digitization to a policy appendix. The Netherlands must appreciate its true value: the backbone of our society and economy.
A country that ignores its backbone is putting its future at risk.