‘Selfish’ and ‘just looking for their own advantage’, that was the German verdict on David Cameron when he came to Berlin for talks with Angela Merkel this weekend. Strangely enough the same is being said about the Netherlands’ foreign minister Uri Rosenthal, writes NRC.

Dour
The minister has been rubbing people the wrong way, the paper writes on Saturday. Rosenthal (66, VVD), an experienced politician, has filled the post for a year now and the news from the department is not good. ‘Dour’, ‘a professor’, ‘someone who dictates but never listens’, say anonymous sources close to the minister. Some refused to talk to the paper at all for fear of endangering their positions. ‘There is a climate of fear at the department’, it quotes one civil servant as saying.
‘Unconventional’ is another adjective used to describe Rosenthal and NRC concludes that his unconventionality may very well be one of the reasons the civil servants are up in arms: Outsider Rosentahl – who unlike predecessor Ben Bot has no diplomatic background – could break up the power of the ‘ancien régime’ at the department and they don’t like it.
Netherlands Inc.
But there are other criticisms as well, not about the inner cabals at the department but about how the Netherlands is being perceived abroad. ‘Abroad is the Netherlands and the Netherlands is abroad’, Rosenthal tells his civil servants. ‘He wants diplomats to put Dutch interests first in everything they do’, one diplomat says, ‘Rosenthal works for The Netherlands Inc.’
Dutch foreign policy used to be more multilateral, working towards unity via the trans Atlantic partnership and for this it was awarded: with the support of the Americans Jaap de Hoop Scheffer became Nato secretary general and Peter Jan Balkenende was allowed to join the G20 meeting. Rosenthal’s ‘diplomacy of economics’ with its purely national focus will put a stop to perks of this kind, diplomats think and has moreover put the Netherlands’ position as a European forerunner in jeopardy.
Pro-business
‘He is contenting himself with a lower, less ambitious international profile, why? wonders one civil servant. Rosenthal himself provides the answer: ‘This is a pro-business cabinet. Not a cabinet for profiteers but for economic growth and innovation and the creation of employment here and abroad.’
It means that the cabinet’s foreign minister could almost be mistaken for it’s economy minister, some say. The paper quotes the example of economy minister Maxime Verhagen (CDA) who, on a visit to Israel called on the country’s government to reopen peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
Inward looking
‘The Netherlands is becoming increasingly inward looking’ ambassadors said recently, in the same paper. Rosenthal’s comment that the Netherlands was pro Europe for two reasons: the border controls and the advantageous internal market, was received with incredulity. ‘This from one of the founding countries of the EU’, one shocked diplomat said.
The country’s prestige abroad will suffer, the ambassadors warned. Rosenthal almost blew a gasket. ‘Is there any way we can make (British ambassador Paul) Arkwright persona non grata?’, he allegedly asked one of his diplomats.
Foreign secretary Hilary Clinton refused to talk to Rosenthal last year during the Nato top in Lisbon, a sure sign of the Netherlands’ waning influence, many say. Mark Rutte restricted the Dutch involvement in Afghanistan. An invite to the next G20 will not be forthcoming.
Not diplomatic
The Americans were also irritated when the Dutch refused to get actively involved in a military mission against Libyan leader Kaddafi. Clinton even walked out of a meeting with Rosenthal. ‘He was not diplomatic enough, or this would never have happened no matter how awkward the message’, the criticism came.
But the European countries also have a bone to pick with Rosenthal. He was the only one who did not back the nomination of Christine Lagarde as the new head of the IMF, for instance.
One source close to the minister said ‘Rosenthal thinks that you can make something happen by saying ‘no’. But it doesn’t work that way’.
Resentment
In the meantime, Rosenthal has dismissed the anonymous comments of his civil servants as ‘regrettable’ and probably the result of resentment in the face of the €75m cutback that is being effected at the ministry of foreign affairs.