Wester van Gaal

Bodem nieuwe locatie ASML vervuild door lekkende mestzak met ammoniumsulfaat Een perceel nabij de A2/N2 in Eindhoven - waar chipmachinefabrikant ASML de komende jaren kantoren en cleanrooms wil bouwen - is ernstig vervuild geraakt door een lekkende mestzak met spuiwater.

Dit vat de prioriteiten in het economisch beleid van het afgelopen kabinet mooi samen: op de plek van de nieuwe cleanroom van ASML is illegaal mest gedumpt...
Heeft de BBB al gereageerd?
www.mestverwaarding.nl/kenniscentru...

Very good interview and important fact-checking.

I enjoyed my conversation with @janrosenow.bsky.social. I’ve learned a lot from his work over the years, especially his critique of using expensive green hydrogen for home heating (or baking an egg).

Here we talk about how electrifying our industries can actually make them more competitive.

Bowing Before Censorship

Why electrification, not repealing green laws, will save Europe's industry According to Oxford professor of energy Jan Rosenow, rapid electrification of Europe's industry, not rolling back the EU's Green Deal, will save European industry.

Electrification + efficiency — not rolling back climate policy — is the real path to a competitive European industry.

High fossil fuel prices hit industry hardest, not the Green Deal. Undermining clean-energy commitments would only push investment elsewhere.

euobserver.com/green-econom...

"VW is among a clutch of European carmakers attempting to replicate the speed of vehicle development in China by hiring local engineers, collaborating with partners there and by tearing down vehicles made by BYD and other newer rivals."

Interesting times.

EU - and UK - need to realise that green approaches are the future & that trying to slow the regulations that boost these markets will only help Chinese competitors, as they are already investing heavily in the transition

Absolutely. On climate, you can’t deregulate your way to the future. You’re just reducing pressure to innovate in an world where the status quo is bad.

V interesting and well worth reading.

I would like to hear more about price differentials between countries. The change, and the increasing competitiveness of southern rather than Northern Europe is playing a role here I think.

FYI @johnspringford.bsky.social

Why electrification, not repealing green laws, will save Europe's industry According to Oxford professor of energy Jan Rosenow, rapid electrification of Europe's industry, not rolling back the EU's Green Deal, will save European industry.

There's much more:

I particularly liked this:

"In 10 years we will ask ourselves: why did we not show more courage? Why did we try to slow down technologies that will define this century? Europe is still very good at manufacturing. We should try to compete."

Will scrapping the 2035 engine phase-out or softening the 2040 target fix industry’s problems?

"Not at all. In fact, it can make things a lot worse. It signals to investors that the clean energy market in Europe will slow. Investment will go elsewhere. China will be the obvious destination."

"Clean technologies already undercut fossil fuels in some areas. That is where decarbonisation actually improves competitiveness. Not everywhere, but in enough places to matter."

"Fossil-fuel prices will remain high in Europe. That means we need more energy efficiency, more renewables, and deeper industrial electrification.

Waiting for prices to fall while doing nothing will fail. A competitive industry will be modern, not stuck in the past."

"I do not accept the analysis behind the rollback narrative that the only way to bring prices down is to roll back green policies. That’s nonsense.

Industry is struggling because of high prices, particularly fossil-fuel prices. That is what drives costs."

I enjoyed my conversation with @janrosenow.bsky.social. I’ve learned a lot from his work over the years, especially his critique of using expensive green hydrogen for home heating (or baking an egg).

Here we talk about how electrifying our industries can actually make them more competitive.

"Brussels’ focus on market influence has become a dangerous blind spot. For instance, officials may treat digital protections as bargaining chips rather than a crucial bulwark of European democracy or a defence against foreign influence. That would be a terrible mistake." 👌

I don’t think the Rutte “daddy strategy” worked

"Last month Europe failed to agree on a plan to seize €140bn Russian assets for Ukraine. Under Trump’s plan that money would fall under US control which will profit from it. EU leaders are paying a bitter price for their failure to seize the initiative, an indictment of their short-sightedness."

Trump’s grab for Russian frozen assets puts EU Ukraine loan in doubt [FREE TO READ] Brussels blindsided by US plan for joint investment funds with Moscow and Kyiv

on.ft.com/3XceXC8 Trump’s grab for Russian frozen assets puts EU Ukraine loan in doubt: ‘“It’s like a 1990s style mafia deal,” said Orysia Lutsevich, head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House.’

Trump’s world view: cynical, self-interested and money-grabbing Latest Ukraine peace plan presented by the US would be a capitulation to Moscow

Fully agree with my paper's editorial on Trump. Ukraine needs Europe to stop flattering Trump the conman and take a clear stand for its own survival and values. www.ft.com/content/8ccf...

Zorgen in de Tweede Kamer over Amerikaanse overname van DigiD-partner Het van oorsprong Nederlandse cloud-bedrijf Solvinity komt mogelijk in Amerikaanse handen.

The Netherlands talks a big game about tech sovereignty, but is now about to allow the domestic cloud provider that underpins its national digital identity system and several other critical government services to be sold off to a new American owner.

Incomprehensible.

nos.nl/artikel/2591...

Literally: “$100 billion in frozen Russian assets will be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine.”

The corruption of these disgusting criminals is boundless.

Maybe they just signed another €275m hydrogen fuel cell subsidy deal.

V interesting. Eddie of ‘chokepoints’ fame basically saying the EU can only make a dent geoeconomically if it embraces its regulatory power (‘Brussels effect’ — haven’t heard that for a while in BXL).

“If europe wants to play a serious role it needs enforcement at the union level.” This irt GDPR. 👍

In het debat over ‘groene groei’ staan de overvloed-optimisten tegenover de eco-idealisten Te groeien of niet te groeien, dat lijkt de vraag in het klimaatdebat. Moeten we streven naar een wereld van overvloed of moeten we genoegen nemen met minder? Twee denkbeelden botsen in de strijd om d...

Te groeien of niet te groeien, dat lijkt de vraag in het klimaatdebat. Moeten we streven naar een wereld van overvloed of moeten we genoegen nemen met minder? Twee denkbeelden botsen in de strijd om de toekomst. www.groene.nl/artikel/meer...

The AI Bubble Is Bigger Than You Think - The American Prospect It’s not just OpenAI that looks overhyped. There’s a whole mountain of sketchy financial engineering underneath.

"We have a 2000s housing bubble level of financial engineering on top of a 1920s level of private unregulated lending on top of something bigger than a 1990s internet (or 1870s railroad) level of technology and infrastructure build-out." prospect.org/2025/11/19/a...

China put €138bn into EU critical sectors, new report reveals The report, pieced together over three years by 142 researchers, shows Europe has become one of Beijing’s preferred destinations for acquisition in strategic sectors such as batteries, grids and chips.

The report, pieced together over three years by 142 researchers, shows Europe has become one of Beijing’s preferred destinations for acquisition in strategic sectors such as batteries, grids and chips.

This piece of printed silk was once used as currency 💶
From my grandfather’s/great-grandfather’s ‘Notgeld’ collection - a type of emergency money issued by German cities during the inflation years.
Most were made of paper, but this silk note was printed in 1921 in Bielefeld, a major textile city ✨

A crucial system of ocean currents may be on course to collapse. This country just declared it a national security threat | CNN Without warm currents from the South Atlantic, Iceland would be much icier and stormier. Now, those currents are at risk of collapse and the country is preparing for this “existential threat.”

A shutdown of the AMOC, a crucial system of ocean currents, “cannot be considered a low likelihood risk anymore in view of the evolving science over the past years,” explains PIK scientist @rahmstorf.bsky.social via CNN.
edition.cnn.com/2025/11/15/c...