The Dutch government plans to reduce its central government workforce by around 16% by 2035. The authorities expect to save €900 million as early as 2027, with annual savings eventually reaching €3.5 billion. Economist Ruslan Sultanov highlighted that the reform involves not only staff cuts but also simpler regulations, digitalization and the introduction of artificial intelligence.
One of the reform’s main elements is a review of existing regulations. The government plans to repeal or simplify at least 500 regulatory requirements annually. It is also considering an approach under which government agencies would have to justify the need to retain each regulation. If they cannot provide that justification, they could scrap the regulation. According to the analyst, this could reduce administrative costs for both the government and businesses.
«Cost savings begin even before staff cuts: fewer procedures mean less need to administer them,» Sultanov noted.
Another area of the reform is improving efficiency through digitalization and artificial intelligence. In the first quarter of 2027, the government plans to present specific targets and estimates of the savings expected from AI implementation.
In addition, the government intends to standardize IT systems, expand joint procurement and use state-owned property more efficiently. One of the targets is to provide one office workstation for every two employees.
Government agencies will also have to exchange data more actively so that citizens and businesses do not have to resubmit information that the state already holds.
The reform will also affect management processes. The government plans to reduce the number of advisory bodies and commissions, as well as government policy assessments. Currently, around 400 such assessments are conducted each year.
Staff reductions are planned in stages. The main cost-saving measures will not affect the police or the defense sector. However, the exact allocation of staff cuts across government agencies has yet to be determined and detailed budget decisions will be announced later.
Therefore, the €3.5 billion in annual savings should be seen as a target for the reform, while the reduction of 25,000 positions is an estimate of the expected scale of the changes, the economist noted.
He believes that if the government retains the existing number of procedures, straightforward staff cuts could increase the workload of remaining employees and worsen the quality of public services.
«For Kazakhstan, what is interesting here is the sequence of the reform: assessing government efficiency through the cost of carrying out its functions, the speed of service delivery and the administrative costs borne by businesses,» Sultanov emphasized.
At the same time, digitalization and the introduction of AI do not guarantee budget savings in themselves. The outcome will depend on which processes can be simplified and which costs can actually be reduced.