The cabinet has set up a secret operation to keep chip machinery maker ASML in the Netherlands, should the company decide to leave or expand abroad because of staffing and other issues, the Telegraph reported on Wednesday. 

“Operation Beethoven” is looking at what needs to be done, after ASML gave ministers a list of demands and confirmed that expanding abroad is an option, the paper’s political sources say. 

The loss of parts of ASML would be a hard blow in the wake of Shell and Unilever moving their headquarters to Britain, because it is of both economic and strategic value, the paper said. 

ASML’s chief executive Peter Wennink has made it clear that the company is concerned about some aspects of public policy, such as the decision to reduce the 30% tax cut granted to some workers brought in from abroad. 

Other plans mooted by the parties in talks on forming a right-wing government, such as reducing the number of highly skilled migrants coming to the Netherlands from outside the EU, are also regarded as a serious problem. The shortage of housing is also an issue. 

Some 40% of the company’s 23,000 strong workforce comes from abroad, the Telegraaf said. 

The paper says prime minister Mark Rutte and economic affairs minister Micky Adriaansens will meet Wennink on Wednesday for a meeting at which the Netherlands’ business climate will be discussed. 

ASML declined to comment on “rumours and speculation”

Concerns about the business climate in the Netherlands are not new and last month employers organisation VNO-NCW published research showing some 44% of Dutch company bosses don’t think the Netherlands is an attractive place to do business.

Company bosses are most worried about the lack of stability in government – 82% said this was a problem, compared with 66% a year ago. And 60% said they do not think the November elections will lead to a stable cabinet either.

CEOs are also concerned about increasing red tape, the shortage of staff and taxes. Around one in four said they would not make any investments in the coming year.

Start-ups

Meanwhile, start-up sector lobby group TechLeap has also expressed its fears about the business climate in the Netherlands, particularly the decision to cut the 30% ruling which is “needed to keep the country competitive”. 

Almost one-third of workers at Dutch start-ups and scale-ups come from abroad. 

“There is a risk that ‘knowledge migrants’ will leave due to uncertainty,” Hamed Sadeghian, chief executive of Nearfield Instruments told the Financieele Dagblad. Some 40% of his workforce of 170 use the scheme. 

“We need them because there is not enough talent available here,” he said. “At the end of the day, you look at your paycheck.”

Do you work at ASML or another tech firm and are you concerned about your future in the Netherlands? We’d like to hear from you for an article.