RfD - Freek Janmaat

Having completed his Master's here at the UvA in Economics 30 years ago, Freek’s connection to the university is strong, underscoring that many areas of the campus have remained unchanged. Janmaat’s career began in advisory positions across different ministries of the Dutch government and ultimately led to his most intensive work at the European Commission. He currently serves as the Economic Counsellor, describing himself as the “eyes and ears” of the Commission in the Netherlands.

Crisis Response, loans, and debt

Crisis response was on top of the Agenda for the discussion. Freeks explained how the bloc's ability and methods for crisis responses have changed drastically. From austerity and spending cuts in response to the Financial Crisis to the EU’s recent 750 billion recovery instrument responding to the onslaught of COVID. This shift demonstrates how the IMF, Commission and ECB have unanimously agreed that austerity alone cannot be the answer to all the problems we face. Instead, it showed that large-scale stimulus packages can calm financial markets and prevent interest rates from rising quickly after a crisis, according to the Economic Counsellor.

This change further illustrates the EU's new perspective on taking on Debt. Even the EU’s enormous budget can’t immediately afford the funds needed in crises. Instead, it was financial markets that lent money to the Union, benefiting from lower interest rates enabled by joint borrowing. 

Defense & Security

Considering the ongoing war to the East of the Union, it was inevitable that the topic of Defence and Security would be on the agenda. Freek underpinned the increase in spending, but also the importance Defence has gained over the past months. There is consensus amongst almost all key actors within the Union that this is a policy area that needs greater attention, whether we like it or not. 

According to Janmaat, economic competitiveness and defence spending are interlocked and cannot exist without one another in the current political climate. Arguing that the US is more willing to enter trade negotiations with a militarily strong Europe than one without. The Union considers a European competitiveness fund to help finance defence and spending. 

This all comes after this year's NATO Summit, which saw European leaders shift toward accepting the necessary change of increasing spending to about 5% of GDP, with the Netherlands among them. 

Failures of the skilled labor market

Exploring the challenges Europe faces for future security and competitiveness, Freek demonstrated his concern about the lack of skills and labour-market readiness young Europeans face. Given the globalised nature of our world, with Chinese and US firms competing, retaining a skilled labour force must be among Europe's top priorities. 

Tools such as the Savings and Investment Union remain too weak and fragmented, making it significantly harder for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to retain the financing they need to stay competitive. Comparing it to the US, Freek claims it is far easier for US SME’s to access equity financing. For this to succeed in Europe, the Economic Counsellor claims that there must be greater centralised supervision to identify vulnerabilities within the Union's financial system. 

Green Deal and CBAM

Key instruments to the EU’s future climate ambition that Janmeet expanded on were CBAM and the Green Deal. Considering the pace at which third-party nations such as China are scaling up their climate policies and strategies, Freek acknowledged that it's an indisputable necessity for the EU to advance the ambitions of the Green Deal. However, simultaneously highlighting that the Union must watch out to ensure and protect the competitiveness of the Single market. Overly strict rules and regulations always pose the risk of capital and labour flight. 

These are some of the motivations that reinforce his support for the CBAM policy that the EU is currently rolling out. By imposing a carbon-adjusted charge on imports that don’t have their prices adjusted to EU environmental standards, this policy further supports the Union's environmental goals while preserving the single market's competitiveness. In Freek's eyes, this is an instrument that is both protective and fair. 

Communication with citizens

Taking in all these different discussion points, Janmeet’s interview was rounded out with arguably the EU’s most decisive task ahead: communicating the EU’s work to its citizens. For far too many millions of Europeans who reap the benefits and luxury of living in arguably the most unique political and economic Union of countries, the actual job being done in Brussels is entirely alien to them. 

It has to be on top of the EU’s priorities to close this communication gap by further developing work with local partners and NGO’s. Within academia and civil society, teaching the EU’s institutional framework must become entrenched and routine. Only then can the next generation of EU politicians and economists truly thrive to ensure the bloc's longevity.