Adema does not regret sharing concerns about derogation

The European Commission had already sounded the alarm with Agriculture Minister Piet Adema about his transition year for the new derogation conditions. Adema now regrets not sharing these concerns, he writes today (January 24) in a letter to parliament. "In retrospect, I believe that I should have given your House an additional signal about the concerns of the European Commissioner, including the steps I was taking to address the concerns of the European Commission (EC). I regret this."

The minister has too the letter of Virginius Sinkevicius published. Unusual, but it was already on the street anyway. In the letter of 19 December (a day before the House discussed derogation with Adema), the European Commissioner writes that if the Netherlands does not respect the agreed derogation conditions, including the time frame, it can no longer invoke the spreading of manure above 170 kilo N/ha as stated in the Nitrates Directive. "In view of the signals from the European Commission (EC), I naturally immediately started investigating what acceleration of the measures regarding buffer strips and catch crops could be done. Everything was aimed at retaining the derogation for the agricultural sector," said Adema today in the letter.

Clarity
On December 8, 2022, the European Commission already informed Adema that it was surprised by the content of his letter of December 2, in which he mentioned a transition period and a transition year. Subsequently, there was a discussion with the committee at official level. Adema: "Based on the outcome of the official meeting of 14 December, I assumed that a substantive meeting could be held with the EC in January 2023 to provide further substantiation of the chosen line. At that time I had the expectation that we would be able to convince the EC of the line as deployed."

The European Commissioner sent Adema a letter on 19 December. "I was only able to take note of this letter after the two-minute debate on December 20, 2022," says Adema. After repeated contact at official level, Adema came to the conclusion last week that he had backed off. "The EC never gives explicit approval in advance and 100% certainty. On the evening of 19 January last, I concluded that I had obtained the maximum possible clarity at that time on the basis of the official discussions held with the EC."

Linda van Eekeres

Linda van Eekeres is co-writing editor-in-chief. She mainly focuses on macro-economic developments and the influence of politics on the agricultural sector.

l.vaneekeres@boerenbusiness. Nl

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