How can digitalisation be handled more efficiently and effectively, without harming our fundamental rights? Digital government expert Johan de Jong has an idea.

On 3 February 2026, experts in the field of digitisation came to The Hague to update the Senate Digitalisation Committee on the direction of the Netherlands Digitalisation Strategy (NDS) - the foundation of Dutch government policy on digitisation. The NDS should provide central direction of digitisation in the Netherlands by prioritising topics and steering towards realising breakthroughs and removing obstacles.

But how can digitalisation in the Netherlands be tackled more efficiently and effectively, without technological progress coming at the expense of fundamental rights such as the right to privacy? In doing so, what are the conditions, bottlenecks and risks? These were the questions at the beginning of February.

The experts were from academia or working in implementing or advocacy organisations. One conclusion about the NDS was shared by all these experts: the ambitions are there, but implementation is stalling. Standardisation, direction and data sharing remain bottlenecks.

Especially the cooperation between administrative layers and implementing organisations falls short. What is missing is a common dot on the horizon: one way of digital cooperation and standardisation.

Imagine a government where you do not have to apply for what you are entitled to, but which automatically provides what you are entitled to at the time

Our system of government has its origins in 1848. Thorbecke's house brought clear responsibilities and a separation of powers. That structure is still the foundation of our government. But when Thorbecke's house entered the digital age, this structure led to fragmentation: each organisation built its own systems, counters and processes.

This institutional logic now hinders the necessary cooperation across borders. To realise the goals of the Dutch Digitalisation Strategy, Thorbecke's house does not have to be demolished. However, the digital foundation underneath it does need to be renewed.

That now reflects the organisational structure: compartmentalised and process-driven. Citizens do not live in organisations. Citizens live in events, such as birth, study, work, illness and retirement. Yet digital government is still structured around internal processes and separate counters. Citizens are thus forced to switch between systems that do not naturally understand each other.

What we need is a fundamental digital reordering: a coherent digital infrastructure as a new foundation. Imagine a government that organises services around life events. Where you do not apply for what is already due to you, but automatically receive what you are entitled to at that moment.

That requires a standardised digital foundation in which data, rules and implementation are fundamentally separated. Data are reusable and under the citizen's control. Rules are explicit, transparent and uniformly applicable, independent of organisations or systems. What remains is the consistent application of rules to data: not the counter, but the law is central.

In the NDS, therefore, choose three guiding principles: the data belong to the citizen, the rules belong to the government, and those who are entitled receive. Then we strengthen Thorbecke's house for the digital age. Not by changing it, but by redesigning the foundation so that the citizen is truly central.

Text: Johan de Jong is expert Digital Government at IT and business consultancy firm CGI Netherlands.
Image: Jamillah Knowles & Digit / https://betterimagesofai.org / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/