US ambassador criticises Dutch block on DigiD owner sale

The US ambassador to the Netherlands has spoken out against the Dutch government’ decision to veto the sale of DigiD operator Solvinity to American IT firm Kyndryl, saying he is in urgent talks with the State Department and wants a meeting with prime minister Rob Jetten.

Joseph Popolo, speaking at a panel at the inaugural Next Gen Security Conference in The Hague on Wednesday, said the cabinet had acted under “time pressure” and “without time for a full evaluation”.

He acknowledged that the deal raised “legitimate security concerns” that “need to be evaluated”, but questioned whether the block amounted to a “non-tariff barrier” – a trade-restriction category that president Donald Trump has used to justify retaliatory tariffs against US allies.

Popolo said he had been on the phone with Washington on Tuesday and would be again on Wednesday, the AD newspaper reported.

Pressure for a Jetten meeting

The ambassador said US investors considering doing business in the Netherlands needed “clarity” on how the government would handle sensitive deals, and pointedly noted that Solvinity is already in British rather than Dutch hands – suggesting the cabinet’s concern was with American rather than foreign ownership as such.

“I want a solution,” he said, adding that he wanted to discuss the case with Jetten directly.

Solvinity, which hosts the DigiD platform used by millions of Dutch residents to access government services, was on the verge of being sold by British private-equity owner Vitruvian Partners to Kyndryl, an IBM spinoff, when junior digital economy minister Willemijn Aerdts (D66) vetoed the deal on Tuesday.

In her letter to MPs, Aerdts said the government had moved quickly because she had “recently received serious indications” that the deal’s completion was “imminent” — a passage Popolo appeared to be addressing when he criticised the speed of the decision.

Security messaging

Popolo’s intervention came hours after Jetten used his opening address at the same conference to argue that Europe had been “naïve” to shelter under the US security umbrella, and to announce that the Netherlands would write the new NATO 3.5% defence spending target into law.

Junior home affairs minister Eric van der Burg, who oversees Logius – the agency that owns DigiD – said on Tuesday that he was not worried about the US reaction.

“If there is any country that understands you look at things like security, it is America,” he told reporters.

The cabinet is due to hold further talks with Solvinity in the coming weeks. Aerdts has also offered MPs a confidential technical briefing on the case.