Issue Government falling short on delivery and expertise

Summary

Citing the Council of State, the report finds that Dutch politics and government have recently lacked the drive to deal with crucial social challenges. This contributes to declining public trust in government. Citizens repeatedly experience that the state's capacity to deliver falls short in several areas, such as housing construction, nitrogen policy, repairing earthquake damage and childcare benefits, and feel that promises are not kept or that progress is only small. According to the Scientific Council for Government Policy, the government has significant gaps and weaknesses in expertise at both the civil service and political levels. The report explains that, as a result, the government does not always manage to respond adequately to complex policy challenges.