TEDxBinnenhof - ‘Reconciling ideas and interests’ (Engels)
Openingstoespraak op TedxBinnenhof van minister Verhagen, Economische zaken, Landbouw en Innovatie, op 25 juni 2012.
Deze toespraak is alleen Engelstalig beschikbaar.
Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to the first TEDx in The Hague. I want to talk about the clash between ideas and interests. Ideas are powerful. Ideas move people, companies, countries. Ideas change history.
The Netherlands as we know it owes its very existence to an idea by a mathematician. A man who calculated how to shape and arrange wheels in such a way that they lift water when the wind blows. When his ideas were put into practice, windmills were built and land was reclaimed from the sea.
This man, Simon Stevin, was granted the States General’s first ever patent, over four centuries ago. In this very place. We are fortunate today, because the ten ideas we are about to hear continue this tradition of brilliance and ingenuity. We are all drawn to the power of ideas. And we all want to be inspired.
In a moment, you will be inspired. An idea can hit us like a ray of light. It can open up such possibilities! Such hope! Such a future!But why do valuable ideas so often stay just that – ideas? If only we could put these ideas into practice right now. If only…
So why can’t we? Vested interests hamper progress. Postpone the future. Let in lobbyists, back-room dealings, might is right. So no wonder that, compared with ideas, interests have a bad reputation. But is this really justified? Is it really that easy to make great ideas powerless?
Ideas should be considered. Compared. Debated. Can we afford them? Can we foresee all their consequences? Who will benefit, who will suffer? Are we being fair? As a country of ideas, the Netherlands has a tradition of consultation, cooperation and compromise.
A tradition of taking interests into account. I am not one to sneer at this tradition. Only in totalitarian societies are ideas forced on people without debate. Yes, compromise can diminish an idea’s brilliance. But we need both ideas and compromises.
Simon Stevin’s mathematics would have counted for nothing without the water boards who reconciled the interests of investors, burghers and farmers. Without compromises, few mills would have been built, and little land reclaimed. Would the Netherlands have existed at all?
Today, engineers are designing windmills once again. A brilliant idea: wind as a never-ending source of clean energy. And yet, every decision to build new mills sparks protests and intense lobbying. While taking those interests into account, this government has tripled the share of renewable energy for the years ahead. Less than we will need. But a good start.
To put ideas into practice you need to take all interests into account. You have to compromise. An idealist has to be pragmatic. That is how I have always conducted politics. That is why I am honoured to be your host here at the Ridderzaal, or Knight’s Hall: the political heart of the Netherlands.
Where for centuries compromises have reconciled existing interests with exciting ideas. So let me close by saying there simply couldn’t be a more fitting place for today’s event.
TEDx, welcome home.