My impression is that the Dutch labour laws are mostly designed for working-class employees, and they actually work fairly well for that, but once you move up in the pay range it starts breaking down. I've worked at several businesses that had expensive "unfirable" employees, and if people decide to be difficult they can draw out the firing process for years.

I've been let go earlier this year in spite of good performance reviews because they thought I'd probably do fine, but weren't 100% sure and they didn't want to take the financial risk of being "stuck" with me.