Translation (by Cora Westerink, alumni Tilburg University)

Karien van Gennip Ministry Social Affairs and Employment

Dear attendees, rector magnificus, excellencies, students, professors and teachers, but especially my father and my parents-in-law [yes, they are all in the audience], citizens [yes, when was the last time you were addressed like this?]

Introduction
It is an honour to be here today. The official opening of the academic year shows that a tradition can be rooted in the past, can stand firmly with both feet in the present, and can look to the future.

And that future… is – apart from the content of this afternoon’s programme – of course mainly to be found here in the auditorium! Students who want to make something of their lives, professors and lecturers who want to guide them on that path, making use of the opportunities our society offers, and thus creating new perspectives. For themselves. And for others. For society.

And yes, that can go together.

The story of my generation
Dear students, our future belongs more to you than to me, or to the other speakers. I realise that even more when I stand here. My eldest daughter is also 18 and going to university. I am reminded of what David Cameron said when he took his leave as British Prime Minister: ”I was the future once”. Well, that also applies to me. I am now almost three times your age… When I was eighteen, and went to study Applied Physics in Delft, it was 1987.

A completely different time. How did I inherit my parents’ future? What did we do with it? And, how do we want to pass on that legacy? What is my vision? And what is your role in this?

More concretely: ‘What do we want society to look like in 10 or 20 years’ time? That is a question we must ask ourselves again and again. Certainly in these geopolitically turbulent times. It affects us all: now and in the future. But especially you: the next generations. When it comes to climate change, sufficient affordable housing and a fair labour market for all.

The common thread in all of this? For me, that is ‘social perspective’. Or in an old-fashioned way: social stewardship. That is a task for all of us. I would like to talk to you today about the importance of that.

About what social stewardship means (or perspective, because I am hopeful, especially when I look into the room here). About connection in our society. About equal opportunities for everyone.

Especially in these times, when we face great challenges as a society.

But first let’s take a look back at 1987. We were in the middle of the Cold War. There was a wall between East and West, which made a big impression on me as a teenager during a holiday to southern Germany. Tensions often ran high between two extremes: ‘Market central’ versus ‘State central’. There was always the threat that things would get out of hand.

Nationally, too, there were harsh contrasts. Demonstrations on the Malieveld. And ”let Lubbers finish his job”. In South Africa, there was apartheid; Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island. News came to us through the newspaper and the 8 o’clock news. And I listened to ”Doe Maar” on cassette tapes and LPs: ”Voordat de Bom valt”. The PTT was a state enterprise. The postman sometimes came twice a day. You waited for weeks for a new telephone connection. A telephone was a device with a dial, on a line.

We still took our savings to the bank, where they were credited with a pen to a savings account. The Lower House consisted of eight parties, of which the CDA was the largest with 54 seats, and the PvdA had 52 seats.

The oil crisis was still thundering in the economy and on the labour market. Interest rates were sky-high, and so was unemployment.

We were “the lost generation”. There would be no more jobs for us. But at the same time, it was a time of social change with new perspectives, movement in a direction that is still very important.

Prosperity, the level of education and equality of opportunity, the participation of women in the labour market – all these things were steadily increasing.

The values I believe in
Ladies and gentlemen,

Once the Wall fell, the Cold War ended, the 1990s lay ahead of us, with all their possibilities.

When I graduated, the perspectives had changed for the better. If you did your best, and took opportunities, there were prospects for everyone.

Opportunities that we, as recent graduates, eagerly took advantage of. We were proud of our relatively egalitarian Netherlands where social partners worked together in the spirit of the Wassenaar Agreement. We started to develop as a country in the direction that is so essential: a society that offers people equal opportunities. Men, women, different education, colour, with migrant roots, gay. A society where everyone gets opportunities. A society where effort and performance is rewarded. With room for innovation and a safety net for when things get tough, to protect the vulnerable.

A country borne of the belief that the next generation would have it better.

These are the values I have always believed in. Because they give our society resilience. They are also the guiding principle in my ministry. Because they are crucial to our common future. Our future, and especially yours.

Major transitions
But have we taken care of those values as good stewards over the past decades? How is our resilience doing now that we are facing big challenges? Are we still that country of ‘looking out for each other’? Of solidarity and togetherness. A country of sharing honestly, where taking responsibility is valued.

Yes, I think we still are. I am hopeful. Even though we see that the dividing lines have increased. The fuses have become shorter. More every man for himself, the boundless self above caring for another.

The answer to the challenges of our time comes from the power of society. But in a different way than now, with a different government than we have done in recent years. Not by seeing the citizen as a customer, but by paying much more attention to social values.

This requires a government that is present, a government with a story. One that sets standards and corrects where necessary. One that engages in conversation. Not an attitude of ‘laissez faire’ or ‘it will all work out’. One that looks further ahead, in a time of short-term thinking.

Even now, our resilience – as human beings and as a society – is being put to the test. In 2022, we will once again be facing major transitions. In the area of climate, while there is still a chance it is time to turn the tide. We agreed on this in the Paris Agreement in 2015, seven years ago now. I am also thinking of globalisation and geopolitics: here, a new view of world trade and globalised chains is needed. Now that the unipolar world order is coming to an end, power relations have shifted, our international dependencies are in a new light.
That is why a strong NATO and a decisive European Union are so important. So that we can stand up for our interests and our way of life on that world stage.

And transitions in the field of energy. In the gas supply, it is now very visible: the globalised market does not work when politics gets the upper hand. With consequences for food safety. And with the consequence of people being cast adrift, people on the move.

I said something about this last week during the emergency debate in the Dutch Parliament, but I want to do it again here: When there are people who put their shopping back at the checkout because they cannot pay for it. The moment that there are people who reduce the monthly amount of their energy bill because they hope that they will be able to pay it on the final bill. At that moment, something is really wrong in the Netherlands.

That affects me, as a person and as a minister. Because I am partly responsible for doing something about it. The great concerns about inflation are justified and I share them. If we want to build a society where people believe in each other, we have to do it together. Where there is a strong society, it also means that people can structurally build on a good income.

These are exceptional times, which call for exceptional measures. To protect vulnerable households, to support middle groups and offer them prospects, to ensure that work pays off.

Not just for the coming months, but with a view much further ahead. A structurally better starting position for lower incomes. And the courage to think about major issues.

Migration, demographics, population composition, inclusion. Yes, we must think now about the big issues of tomorrow. In particular, ageing and migration.

The figures are known. In 2020, there will be 3.4 million over-65s in the Netherlands. In 2040, there will be 4.7 million, a third of them over 80. That has consequences. On urban development. On the cohesion of neighbourhoods. For healthcare. At the moment, about one in six people works in the care sector. That will increase to one in four in 2040. And if we don’t change anything in the meantime, it will be one in three in 2060. We also know that a large proportion of care is already provided by informal carers. And that informal carer will soon be you.

That makes ageing the social issue of tomorrow.

Of course: innovation and medical progress will help us. But even then, the impact will be huge. The same applies to the consequences of migration, certainly in the long term. Migration must be much more of a conscious choice. Not something that happens to us.

It is of great importance that we regain control of migration. That is why the Netherlands must play a leading role in the development of a European refugee and asylum policy. And we must consider the short and long-term effects of influx, retention, and departure. With an eye to the support and needs of Dutch society. That is why, just before the summer, I established the State Commission Demographic Developments 2050. In order to think thoroughly about this very issue.

Faltering promise
Ladies and gentlemen, these major transitions bring with them great uncertainty and cause unrest in society. Distrust has become a widespread social phenomenon. And not just in the places where the flags fly upside down.

Distrust in each other and in politics. Distrust that is magnified to indigestible proportions through the social media.

I often wish the silent majority would speak up more. Because that is where – even now, in times of great uncertainty – the lasting constructive attitude, the reasonableness that you can build on, is to be found. As long as there is a social perspective.

The SCP warned in last week’s edition of Burgerperspectieven (Citizens’ Perspectives) that trust in politics had never been so low. Or read the Atlas of Disengaged Netherlands.

There are large gaps and divisions on several fronts:

• City / countryside
• Young / old
• Can and cannots

Between people with security and people without. Between people with permanent contracts and people with flexible contracts or temporary work. Between people with wealthy parents and those who do not.

These divisions damage our future prospects. This affects our solidarity, our resilience. It makes people feel that they themselves have no prospects, or that their children will be better off. We have, quietly, allowed this to happen.

Putting the market at the centre and not society itself. Look at the housing shortage. Building for the needs of the market is very different from building for the needs of society.

Especially at a time when we need everyone.

And it is precisely about this perspective that more and more people have questions. The gap that has been around for about ten years was initially driven by the question: “Will my children still get a better deal than me? No matter how hard I work?” For generations, that suddenly seemed not to be a given.

But as the gap has deepened, the question has also become more fundamental, more painful.

It is the raw question of basic subsistence security.

The SCP (Social Cultural Planning Office) has found that young people are increasingly hesitant about shaping their lives. Consequently, they are having children later. Buy a house later. Get a permanent job later. A sum of factors makes it uncertain to take steps. A ‘postponed’ life.

Your postponed life.

It is a sign that the promise of our society is faltering. That the values of equal opportunities for all, commitment and performance that is rewarded and a safety net for the vulnerable really need maintenance.

It is urgent. Because if you doubt whether your children will be better off than you, you give up a little. If you stressfully wait for the 21st every month, you can’t think about anything else. And if you have the feeling that your interests do not count, you will give up.

We must not let this happen. Not for the people who drop out and not for our society. Because with the challenges we face, we really need everyone.

What are we going to do about it?
Ladies and gentlemen, I consider it a great privilege and a great task to serve as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in such a challenging time. Yes, politics matters. In general, I think we have given the market too much credit in recent decades. We are coming back from that now. Don’t get me wrong: market forces provide innovations, solutions, progress, work, income for the Netherlands. But if you let the market run its course too much, things will not automatically turn out well.

We’ve seen that too recently. Think of the way we deal with migrant workers, which Emile Roemer’s report has put in the spotlight. We are talking about people here, not about raw materials. We are working on all his recommendations.

Think of the cases of cross-border behaviour on the shop floor, for which we have appointed a government commissioner. Or think of discrimination on the labour market.

Public housing, nitrogen file. And, of course, the labour market and, in particular, flexibility. For that kind of thing, a government that says: let it go, it will be fine. We have learned from this that looking away only makes the problem worse. We must not let that happen again.

We don’t need a government that looks at things as a profit and loss account. What we need is a government that has a vision and sets out policy. A government that is present.

Own portfolio
Ladies and gentlemen, I am now in a position to do something about the overdue maintenance that we face as a society.

• In guaranteeing security of income and existence;
• In finding a new balance between security for employees and agility for entrepreneurs;
• In integration, through a new system that offers a better balance between support and personal responsibility.

The focal point of my assignment for the next 2.5 years is the labour market – the central point where so much comes together. This is where individual and social ambitions take shape. We provide an income, but also social contacts. Development, meaning, inspiration, appreciation and growth. Our labour market is not in balance, that is a widely shared conclusion. There is a great shortage and a mismatch, while capital is wasted because too many people are left on the sidelines. The risks between high and low incomes, between permanent, flex and self-employed, are unequally distributed. Differences in protection between the self-employed and employees have increased sharply. That is where the balance has been lost.

Reforming the labour market is a question of changing many points of view. So that we can offer security for workers and flexibility for companies. So that a permanent contract again becomes the norm for structural work, a more level playing field is created with clearer rules for everyone. And that, in turn, will lead to security of income and existence, earning capacity and perspective. That is also social stewardship.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Actually, the main question should always be: ‘What kind of society do we want to be, now and in 20 years’ time?’ It may be a difficult question, but to me the answer is crystal clear.

Perhaps for you too.

But I also see that we as a society have avoided this question in recent decades. Perhaps understandably so. Surely the Netherlands was doing well?

Yet I think there would have been every reason to do so. Because the Netherlands is not a private company. And the Dutch are not customers.

In his beautiful essay ‘Think Bigger, Do Smaller’, Herman Tjeenk Willink puts his finger on that sore spot.

We have left it there. For example, as a result of the process of de-confessionalisation that started in the 1960s. We saw how religions gradually became less important, creating space for new perspectives, but also an emptiness. In meaning, and also in social connections and the structuring of democracy.

Tjeenk Willink argues that a renewed citizenship can fill that vacuum. Because we are all citizens. It is actually our very first job. In good times and in bad. Tjeenk Willink calls this ”citizenship as a public office”. But then politicians have to see us as citizens. Not as customers. Not as an enemy.

In conclusion
And that brings me back to the beginning, when I addressed you as citizens. And you may have found that strange. But I did it for a reason.
What I mean by that is that the government cannot do it alone. We need everyone:

• businesses
• scientists
• our free press
• civil society organisations.

People who can think in their own interest – yes that is allowed! – but also the general interest. People who can think for their own and future generations. People who are prepared to constantly breathe new life into the values that give our country its resilience.

The society I envisage will not come about if we just let the market do its work. Nor will it come about if we let the state determine from the top down what is good for us. But also not if we all stand only for our own partial interests. Such a society comes about when we as citizens are heard and involved. If we come to understand that economic prosperity does not ‘automatically’ produce social well-being. By doing something for ourselves and each other, in reciprocity. By all of us taking account of the values that have brought us to where we are today. Values from which you can benefit. But which you also have to take care of in order to pass on to the next generation intact and further developed.

So that’s what I mean by social stewardship. Offering social perspective, to you (and your children)!
That you are aware of this and actively work for it, because that society is all of us. I ask you to be an involved citizen, then I promise you a present government.

Dear students, enjoy your academic year. Study, live, develop, think, feel, pray, meditate, travel, challenge and discuss. As students, as people, as citizens. And as a steward of the values that also shape your life now.

Make something beautiful out of it!

Thank you very much.