Room for Discussion

Pete Hoekstra serves as the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands but has formerly been a member of the U.S House of Representatives, and Chair of the House Intelligence Committee. In the interview, we will touch upon the relations between the Netherlands and The United States. We will try to understand the coherency or potential incoherency of American foreign policy in places such as Venezuela and Syria. Additionally, we will explore the current situation in US politics with the recent shutdown showing the potentially weakening power of the President

Space exploration has been a token of global leadership since the Cold War. However, private companies are increasingly seeing space as a new market outside of our planetary boundaries. With the emergence of astropreneurship, the market structure in the space industry has changed drastically. Companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have been able to cut costs through technological advancement and are challenging old space monopolies. However, this drive for privatisation has been largely led by US-based companies, with Europe falling behind.

Three years ago the united kingdom – in an extremely close referendum – voted to leave the European Union. Since then the country has gone through what experts have called the gravest political crisis in contemporary British history. With parties split on the issue, challenges to the current government and constant impasses over – until recently – generally unheard issues. The question many are asking is: what is going on? On our first of our two sessions on Brexit, we will focus on the United Kingdom’s perspective. In this one hour interview with two experts on the matter, we plan to bring you up to date with the most recent Brexit news (whatever that is at the moment), while discussing the current Conservative split and assess the role and responsibility of Labour. Finally, our experts will provide the audience with their predictions of how matters will evolve.

Feike Sijbesma is a Member of the Board of Royal DSM since July 2000, and CEO and Chairman since May 2007. Royal DSM is a Dutch multinational active in the fields of health, nutrition, and materials. Headquartered in Heerlen, at the end of 2017 DSM employed 21,054 people in around 50 countries and posted net sales of €8,632 million. Besides being the CEO of Royal DSM, Sijbesma is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Dutch Central Bank and a non-executive board member of Unilever, while also being a member of the Global CEO Council of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, advising the Chinese Premier.
This impressive palette of influential functions resulted in De Volkskrant naming him as the third most influential person in The Netherlands and because of his efforts for a more sustainable planet, the World Bank Group named him a “Global Climate Leader”.

Tijdens dit interview zal gesproken worden over hoe het Nederlands zorgstelsel sinds 2006 drastisch is veranderd door de marktwerking in de zorg. De concurrentie tussen zorgverzekeraars en zorgaanbieders moet leiden tot lagere kosten in de zorg en betere kwaliteit om de stijgende zorgkosten behapbaar te houden. Functioneert de marktwerking zodanig goed dat dat ook wordt bereikt? Kunnen we spreken van een gezonde markt?

Dit en meer bespreken we samen met Georgette Fijneman, directievoorzitter Zilveren Kruis, en Ernst van Koesveld, directeur Zorgverzekeringen bij het Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport.

Currently, there are multiple countries at risk of an economic crisis. Severe drops in the values of their domestic currencies are drastically altering and changing the country’s economic performance. On December 10th, Room for Discussion hosted an interview with Nora Neuteboom, an economist for ABN Amro, and Professor Sweder van Wijnbergen. The interview will cover “Crushed Currencies,” and the turmoil that is created in emerging markets.

There are many discrepancies between the member states within the eurozone about the direction this monetary union should take. With Germany and France trying to lead the ship towards a clear destination, and other member states struggling to catch up, the future of the eurozone seems unclear, and maybe even in danger. The coming years will be crucial for the future of this monetary union, but which hurdles should the block overcome to become the stable union all member states signed up for?

During this one-hour interview we are eager to answer this question together with Daniel Gros (Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies) and Enrico Perotti (Professor of International Finance)

In overview:

What: Eurozone Reforms - The Future of the Single Currency
Who: Daniel Gros (Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies) & Enrico Perotti (Professor of International Finance)
Interviewers: Santiago Diaz Jaramillo and Linus Ax

During this interview we explore the most effective policies to make refugees well integrated, productive and profitable members of society in the most efficient way. The primary focus revolves around current policies within Europe, the best ways to integrate refugees into the workforce and the limits of integration policies

During this one-hour interview we are eager to answer these questions together with Leo Lucassen, Professor of Social History and author, and Eva Degler, Migration policy analyst at OECD.

What: Refugee Integration
Who: Leo Lucassen and Eva Degler
Interviewers: Saumya Joshi and Olaf Vrijmoet.

We are happy to receive Professor Robert Koopman, the Chief Economist of the World Trade Organisation in October for an interview on international trade.

The interview falls into a time in which the liberal world trade order is shaken by the ongoing trade war between the two largest economies of the world, the United States and the Peoples Republic of China.

For our second lustrum interview, we have invited the former European Commissioner for Competition and Vice-president of the Commission for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes.

The interview focusses on several pressing topics in the European Union right know, such as the upcoming populist-nationalist political parties vs the cosmopolitan status quo parties.
Furthermore, we will discuss with Ms. Kroes the challenge the EU is facing to keep up with the US and China in the field of high-end technology, for example Artificial Intelligence and Robotisation.

Considering this, which institutional reforms are needed within the EU to keep it competitive with regard to other big geopolitical forces and to maintain the wellbeing of its citizen?