Foreign minister Uri Rosenthal is ‘undiplomatic’ and his focus on Dutch interests is short-sighted, according to senior civil servants and diplomats in the NRC this weekend.

‘The Netherlands used to lead the way but we have lost this position thanks to ill-considered behaviour,’ one anonymous diplomat told the paper.
‘The Netherlands has been marginalised abroad. Rosenthal’s foreign policy is irrelevant. He does not understand the international game,’ an expert in diplomacy said.
Economic interests
Rosenthal’s main focus in foreign policy is now the Dutch economic interest – a strategy which also annoys foreign diplomats, the paper said.
‘Let me put it this way. The Netherlands is not making friends with this,’ a diplomat with a foreign power said.
The paper also reports that US secretary of state Hillary Clinton walked away from a discussion with Rosenthal this spring, irritated about the low level of Dutch support for Nato action in Afghanistan and Libya.
In a reaction to the article on a television current affairs show, Rosenthal brushed off the criticism and said it is a pity civil servants had made anonymous claims in the media. He said he had asked senior ministry officials to try to stop this happening in future.
Last month the NRC quoted several ambassadors as saying the Netherlands was becoming confused and inward looking.
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