Background Nitrogen Mood
Have a chat or wait for state elections?
The consultations on a broad agricultural agreement (which is actually a disguised nitrogen consultation) will be in full swing again in the coming weeks. In recent weeks, Minister Adema has sometimes said that agreement is not necessarily necessary before the provincial elections. A deal for that time suits the cabinet very well.
Stretch or stop? The current government coalition would like to take some kind of act before March 15. A lot can be discussed in a period of ten weeks. Stretch or stop? The agricultural parties who are allowed to join Wouter de Jong at the main or side table are dubious about the question of what is sensible to do: keep discussing, see what can still be achieved and, in the meantime, possibly 'stretch' until after the state elections or drop out soon . Opinions are divided. LTO chairman Sjaak van der Tak has already indicated that he wants to talk further in any case. Parties such as Biohuis and Netwerk Grondig are also on the same page. Organizations such as Agractie and the Dutch Dairy Farmers Union are more critical.
Van der Wal-like
Incidentally, a remarkable, albeit small, bump has occurred in the consultation line between The Hague and Agractie in recent weeks. A former hired employee at the large Malieveld protest of Agractie on October 1, 2019, also an SGP member, switched to the department shortly afterwards as spokesperson for Minister Christianne van der Wal. That was until then, but when he subsequently turned in at the end of November last year an interview also rather 'Van der Wal-esque' about the nature and water quality, the SGP and the Agractie supporters were chatting their ears. It didn't help for a good atmosphere around the meeting.
Provinces must do it
Many farmers' organisations, and certainly their supporters, prefer to wait for the state elections and then do - or try to do - business with the new boards. It can be expected that they have a considerably changed composition. Some see the recent 'ultimatum' from Overijssel to The Hague (€5 billion extra for reorganization of the province) as a promising first step. After all, the provinces are responsible for the organization of the rural area. The Hague does make plans and intentions may be expressed in a coalition context, but the cabinet itself does not have the instruments to enforce matters. The legislative instruments for this were handed over long ago. The Hague has the money, but that alone is not enough.
Designation of new areas
Christianne van der Wal, the Minister of Nitrogen and Nature, meanwhile still has something of her own set of instruments. It is its authority to designate additional nature areas and to increase their protection status. Special in its latest designation of 101 nature areas as areas with a higher protection status that she first made that designation in Brussels and subsequently made it known in the Netherlands itself. Not much publicity has been given to this, by the way. There was an announcement in the Government Gazette and that was it. However, there is still the possibility to object, which the Province of Friesland has used, among others.
Klaas van der Horst
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