News Nitrogen Mood
Are agricultural tables entering the Alice in Wonderland phase?
The consultations at the agricultural tables that have been going on for weeks have not aroused many positive feelings among the agricultural participants, according to information from participants. Rather the reverse. Again and again the question of trust comes up and discussion about the process itself. In our weekly section Nitrogen Mood, we give an impression of the nitrogen crisis in our own way.
Discussion leader Wouter de Jong would rather make progress and complete his schedule. Phase 1 is almost completed, phase 2 of the process is imminent, he has indicated. However, many participants indicate that they would like to know what phase 1 has yielded before entering the next consultation phase.
Tar and feathers
Participants also say they feel increasingly uncomfortable with the consultation process. "It feels more and more like an Alice in Wonderland process," said one participant. Another fears that if the general public hears what is being discussed, the participants will be tarred and feathered. It is also a problem that not everything can be discussed in the Agricultural Agreement. Such as the National Plan Rural Area (NPLG).
€37 billion for NPLG targets
The government has €37 billion ready for this, it appears documents from Minister Sigrid Kaag. This money must be used to pay for a 31% reduction in the livestock population, many companies must be adapted and a lot of nitrogen and ammonia reduction must also be achieved (which LTO foreman Van der Tak thought was not the case).
Van der Tak wants the same as Van der Wal, doesn't he?
De Jong continues to encourage the conversation to continue, as the chairman does in his weekly talk. Van der Tak believes it is crucial to have an agreement no later than mid-April, otherwise the government will continue with the area processes itself. Something that Minister Van der Wal indicated this week. She also wants an agreement in mid-April. At the same time, Van der Tak does not know whether an agreement is feasible because of the many uncertainties surrounding PAS reporters and the like. There can also hardly be clarity about the peak loaders, for which Van der Wal has devised a different identification method.
Area processes seem to have already started
Others take offense that some of those area processes seem to have already begun. On the border of Utrecht and South Holland, a group of farmers has already been more or less told that they have to leave, while consultations have not yet started. Anger about this was the reason that a consultation evening in Kamerik was canceled because deputies no longer dared to come. The situation there is also painful, because the farmers had already started their own regional process, for which they were welcomed with open arms by the government. Now an area process seems superfluous because the farmers have to leave anyway.
Not fiercely attractive anymore
Meanwhile, the letters that Minister Van der Wal sent to the House of Representatives last week continue to cause confusion. The House of Representatives has asked for a technical explanation and the provinces also lost their understanding of what was going on. It has also become clear that the buy-out scheme that Van der Wal once announced as 'terribly attractive' can ultimately become little more than a compensation for raison of no more than 120% of the free value. This has State Secretary Marnix van Rij reported to the Chamber. The state aid limit will continue to apply.
Not all latent space gone
There was another setback for the nitrogen fighters this week. MOB and the Brabantse Milieufederatie (BMF) successfully proved their right against the use of latent nitrogen space for new construction by industry. Victims of this are plastic producer SABIC and indirectly Cargill in Bergen op Zoom. Old latent space should not be activated just like that. Bad news for many companies. Whether this is also bad news for Schiphol, other airports and also farmers with latent space remains to be seen, MOB indicates.
Cat to Brabant approach
It is remarkable that the province of North Brabant also receives a slap on the wrist from the court between the companies. The province supported SABIC with reference to, among other things, the Brabant Development Approach Stikstof (BOS), which is also fully supported by the government. The judge refers the BOS to the waste bin and calls the nitrogen measures in the BOS ineffective and, in case SABIC, illogical, because others have to take measures, but not SABIC. Perhaps the national government would do well to read that ruling carefully again in preparation for the preliminary relief proceedings about Aerius. Due to the link of Aerius to the law, not everyone is tarred with the same brush.
Klaas van der Horst
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.
