Working towards a sector that is known and loved

The Public Affairs department represents the interests of Royal FloraHolland, its members and the floriculture sector in society, the media and politics.

Unknown is unloved. A well-known saying indicating that indicates that one can only appreciate something (or someone) through closer acquaintance. This gets to the heart of advocacy. It is important to know a lot about the themes and policy processes is important, but perhaps the most important is investing in relationships. Investing in building a network with the people who are important to us and our sector. So that they trust the information we give them and use it when making decisions that affect us.

We are in a situation where many people in politics are new. In mid-May, together with a large number of sector partners, we organised the EU Plant Debate. In the beautiful historical Bloemenlust auction room in Aalsmeer, eight candidate Members of the European Parliament debated hot topics in the sector. Except for one, SGP candidate Bert-Jan Ruissen, they all took the stage for the first time, to present their party’s position for Europe. Earlier, I mentioned that half of the 150 members of the House of Representatives are serving in this role for the first time. New ministers and state secretaries will also join once the extra-parliamentary cabinet is formed.

The upcoming cabinet will not work with a closed coalition agreement. It has a concise government programme with policy outlines. For many themes or issues, they will have to seek majorities in the House of Representatives. These can vary each time. We must continue to monitor these developments in our lobbying.

Of course, we also looked at the Global Agreement of the Dutch cabinet Balkenende II (16 May 2003) through the lens of our company and sector. The document contains a number of positive principles. They concern the important contribution of entrepreneurs and businesses to our earning capacity. This is something we have constantly emphasised in our lobbying: the floriculture sector contributes significantly to the Dutch economy, with a total export of over 11.5 billion euros and employment for 150,000 people. Positive is the coalition's intention to continue the energy transition, with extra efforts to solve grid congestion. The coalition will adhere to existing agreements, such as those in the Greenhouse Horticulture Energy Transition Covenant 2022-2030. We must continue full steam ahead.

Horticulturists, like farmers and fishermen, are promised a bright future. They ‘must be cherished because they are important for our food supply and the Dutch cultural landscape’. It is important for us to include floriculture in this. The importance of flowers and plants for health and happiness must remain in focus. The promise to consult regularly with representative sector organisations provides a good opening.

Our concern remains retaining the reduced VAT rate for floriculture. The General Agreement mentions several examples of rates being increased to 21%. Last week, a petition was started (which now has almost 200,000 signatures) to retain the reduced VAT rate on (children's) books. Floriculture is not explicitly mentioned in the General Agreement, but - and this makes it complicated and exciting - it is listed in the same category in the evaluation by the Ministry of Finance. We remain vigilant!

In the coming weeks, formateur Van Zwol will set to work and government officials will be assembled. This team (Cabinet) will then write the Coalition Agreement together. We have started contributing to this with partners in the 'Green Power Forward' reputation campaign. We provide texts with concrete sentences on three major themes: healthy eating and greening, 100% green cultivation, and energy/climate. Providing solid information and text proposals on the themes we care about and presenting them at the right time to the right people is something we excel at together. This is how we work towards a sector that is known and loved!

Do you have any questions or would you like more information on this topic? Email publicaffairs@royalfloraholland.com.