Major Dutch corporations, including Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Unilever PLC, Royal Philips NV and dairy produce giant Royal FrieslandCampina NV, have joined forces to showcase national talents in a bid to roll back gloom and populism, the Dutch media reported on Saturday.
A public relations campaign — whose launch coincides with a tense election campaign — will point to Dutch success in meeting five challenges of the future, the financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad said.
Entitled Global problems, Dutch solutions, it is to look at how Dutch enterprises are enhancing farm yields and water management, coping with demographic aging, the demands of urbanization and the switch to renewable energy.
THE FUTURE
Unilever Europe president Jan Zijderveld told the paper that “populism is a symptom of lack of progress... Right now, there is a lack of an outlook for growth and that feeds negativity.”
“To combat populism, we need a new business model, a point on the horizon to which we can work over the next decade,” he added.
“In the election debates, people only talk about today, not about the future,” he said.
The initiative coincides with the run-up to general elections that are seen as a bellwether for nationalism in Europe in a critical year following last year’s Brexit vote and the victory of US President Donald Trump.
Far-right parties are beating on drum on immigration, Islam and economic stagnation.
Far-right anti-Islam Dutch minister Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party have been leading the opinion polls for months, leaving Rutte’s Liberal party trailing in second place.
A poll aggregate published on Feb. 1 predicted that Wilders would emerge with the largest party with 27 to 31 seats in the 150-member lower house of parliament, with Rutte’s party mustering just 23 to 27 seats.
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