Europese Commissie

Background Nitrogen mood

Mister Green Deal suddenly on pole position

21 July 2023 - Klaas van der Horst - 24 comments

Barely two weeks after the fall of the Rutte cabinet, the election campaign seems to have already started. At least with the PvdA/Groenlinks combination. 'Mister Green Deal' Frans Timmermans took the calculated gamble to return prematurely from Brussels to The Hague, to take over Mark Rutte's seat there. He has of course said that he is also prepared to sit in the House of Representatives, if things turn out differently, but there is a lot of confidence.

PvdA and GroenLinks already look in a victory mood in advance. Other candidates for the leadership of the new combination were there at first, but they took off at the news about the vote cannon from Europe. According to the comments, the mathematical formula of 1 + 1 = 3 or more comes into effect in a block of PvdA and GroenLinks. Then put a heavyweight at the head and the election victory can no longer escape the left of the Netherlands, even without D66.

PvdA leader, Groenlinks profile
According to the PvdA, if Timmermans were to become prime minister, he should mainly be concerned with improving purchasing power for ordinary citizens and other matters that make everyday life more pleasant. So that can still become a thing, although Timmermans unites a PvdA membership with a GroenLinks profile.

With him as prime minister, things don't seem to get any better for farmers than with the current (outgoing) government. Frans Timmermans, for example, is no less a nitrogen fundamentalist than Tjeerd de Groot of D66 and evokes almost as much irritation on various forums. 

While the PvdA and GroenLinks already have a PR lead over the rest, the VVD, CDA, D66 and partly also ChristenUnie have to put things in order internally and elect new leaders. They also need to distinguish themselves more from each other. That will be quite difficult with a caretaker cabinet in the background that expresses all kinds of ambitions with the last breaths. According to several ministers, there is still a lot to be completed. They often need each other for that.

Old policy and new campaign
So there are all kinds of contradictions for them to overcome. For example, CDA members said on a working visit to the country this week that they wanted to learn lessons from the past cabinet term. The question arises how they want to do this and when they want to start. already, or only after a few more political decisions have been taken that will make the countryside unhappy again? Something similar applies to the VVD. This party also wants to retain votes in the countryside, but some distance must be taken from the old cabinet policy.

Clumsy statements by ministers can then be counterproductive. For example, VVD minister Christianne van der Wal recently claimed that peak taxers who might want to be bought out are being intimidated. Inquiries at her own department show that no signal has been received about this. The minister apparently sucks the threats out of her thumb. Such things do not help to restore confidence. It is still impossible to say how things will go in the coming months in the run-up to the new elections.

BBB peak over?
According to some polls, the BBB has already passed its peak. This would be partly because the party has made a number of clumsy moves in coalition formation at the provincial level. The coalition formation itself also plays a role in the image. Many voters think that the party they vote for will then translate their views into policy in full. However, it has never worked that way, except perhaps in countries where everything was predetermined anyway. It is a persistent idea or dream that it should be different. In the polder country of the Netherlands, every policy becomes a weaker copy of the party program of its own preference. Sometimes nothing comes of it at all, but every citizen who lives or has lived in a family should know that, you would say.

Timmermans' antennas
It does not alter the fact that the BBB, as a newcomer, still has to deal with it. This with the knowledge that every new sound will also sound old and familiar. But also based on the strength of its own arguments, which attracted many voters this spring. Van der Plas already got acquainted with the expected major opponent a few weeks ago, when Timmermans' ambitions were not yet known, but the latter may have already had some reasoned premonition.

City against countryside
Whatever happens, the contradictions surrounding agriculture, nature and climate policy will not diminish for the time being. On the one hand, there are groups that radically deny or trivialize climate and other problems, on the other hand, the climate alarmists are also sounding the alarm and the anti-animal husbandry groups are becoming increasingly fanatical. For example, advertising man and senator for the Party for the Animals Niko Koffeman argues that sheep are more dangerous to humans than wolves and he thinks that anyone in the Netherlands who puts a burden on the wolf should be brought to justice.

Whether he is completely convinced of his words is not clear. Because he does live in the Veluwe, but wisely does not sleep in a tent between his beloved four-legged friends. Koffeman and many other declared wolf lobbyists are now also putting things on edge with this. It would be sad if November's elections ended in 'urban versus rural' elections.

Do you have a tip, suggestion or comment regarding this article? Let us know

Klaas van der Horst

Klaas van der Horst is a passionate follower of the dairy market and everything related to it. He searches for the news and interprets the developments.
Comments
24 comments
Subscriber
Captain Gone 21 July 2023
This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/artikel/10905194/mister-green-deal-suddenly-on-pole-position]Mister Green Deal suddenly on pole position [/url]
There's a storm coming
Subscriber
CM 21 July 2023
Captain Gone wrote:
This is in response to it Boerenbusiness article:
[url = https: // www.boerenbusiness.nl/artikel/10905194/mister-green-deal-suddenly-on-pole-position]Mister Green Deal suddenly on pole position [/url]
There's a storm coming
Winter is coming
Subscriber
Zeeuw 21 July 2023
Klaas: great article! Compliments.
Kabouter plop can suck a point on that. Even his slipper Asssscher can't match that and neither can biosphere Samsonite. Let the gnome Plop with his green deal first ban the moves every month to Strasbourg. Let the gnome Plop first set equal conditions in the EU, for example by including NOx emissions for air traffic above the Netherlands, and soon CO2 emissions above 900 meters. And finally: flying from hot to her through VAT-free traffic and then telling obse citizens how important the environment is. Who believes in gnome Plop!
Subscriber
peta 22 July 2023
Kabouter plop is going to sink through the ice. The left-wing supporters have also noticed this man's aristocratic traits.
And the ultimate top hat rabbit is still searching but not giving up yet!
Subscriber
gerard 22 July 2023
French has a tongue twister but is not a stretch miracle
Subscriber
Zeeuw 22 July 2023
Remedy against Kabouter Plop is very simple. As soon as he thinks that only according to his standards as a green rascal is allowed here, it's the end of the exercise for him! As with the wolves, as soon as there is a nuisance to normal society you have to react adequately, we have enough people for that! Kabouter Plop is not a vegan judging by his full size. He's the type that eats it all. Tjeerd the liar will look like this in 5 years with glasses on his snout!
Subscriber
Roy 22 July 2023
Any sane person can think that the wolf does not belong in the Netherlands. You can't take such a small group of animal screamers seriously, can you?
By the way, the wolves are evicted by them, nothing natural about it.
Subscriber
Louis Pascal deGeer 22 July 2023
Sustainable = Healthier and Cheaper DGG, a variant of the GGD - Healthier, Cheaper and Sustainable
I think these are slogans to get Farmers and Citizens in Motion and to think about how to get this done.
Subscriber
time bomb 22 July 2023
In the 60s we had the PVDA with the Owl as prime minister. Then the farmers grumbled great, but!!!!! It wasn't that bad for the farmers then. I know the PVDA is socialist, ok, but they stood up for the working people, and they should, but now the PVDA is greener than green, and I don't understand this. Green and employment, because that's what the PVDA was for, with good social facilities. When it comes to employment, green sometimes has to suffer a bit, and that should also be possible. The pvda is no longer a party for working people, it's a pity that they tolerate all that, but if the greens continue like this, employment will soon come to an end. As it used to be ok, that is no longer necessary, everyone is doing their utmost to save / improve the environment, and we did that in a way that we could keep up, but now!!! Can't keep up with them anymore, and they're still making up all sorts of things. Take the winter crop. The wur has calculated that it is grossly exaggerated. We have to go vote again. Perhaps we can get them to get into each other's hair by debating. But: Luctor et emergo or in Zeeland style: I struggle and escape.
Subscriber
frog 22 July 2023
I struggle and emerge
in Zeeland
Subscriber
Soldier van Oranje 23 July 2023
Jan4072 could well hit a source of truth, so theo let this also be said in a democratic country and not let it be smothered via BB.
Subscriber
time bomb 24 July 2023
I am also convinced that Frans Timmermans is not a pure guy in word, writing and deed.
Flevo farmer 24 July 2023
Holy shit, what a stupid level here. Go for a walk in your crops or something.
Subscriber
time bomb 24 July 2023
Flevoboer wrote:
Holy shit, what a stupid level here. Go for a walk in your crops or something.
Flevo farmers always think at a higher level, but are also just like other farmers.
Subscriber
Arie poor branch. 24 July 2023
Totally agree with Flevo farmer. By writing these things like this, most of them here portray themselves as real stupid farmers who deserve nothing more than to be pinched by Mr. Timmermans. What would you do if you were beaten up like this with him and you had the chance to get your shit. Disagree with him, no problem, but come up with good arguments and decent criticism. As it is now, you are among the plebs of our country.
Subscriber
Plopperplop 24 July 2023
It's a pity if the gnome plop leaves Europe, he is a great ambassador for the farmers.
4 percent fallow, more greenery, less crop protection, prices are skyrocketing. All thanks to leprechaun plop. Putin is still helping to raise the price of grain, let those two continue quietly. No neonics on beet seed, beet factory close sugar price up, just to name a simple example.
south-east 24 July 2023
where are you going to deliver your beets then smarty......
Subscriber
time bomb 25 July 2023
Arie poor branch. wrote:
Totally agree with Flevo farmer. By writing these things like this, most of them here portray themselves as real stupid farmers who deserve nothing more than to be pinched by Mr. Timmermans. What would you do if you were beaten up like this with him and you had the chance to get your shit. Disagree with him, no problem, but come up with good arguments and decent criticism. As it is now, you are among the plebs of our country.
Frans Timmermans must stay where he is. He will destroy our country more than we would like, and we already have enough if you look back closely at the last failed cabinet period. You shouldn't want to be the best boy in the class either.
Subscriber
Arie poor branch 25 July 2023
Where Timmermans stays or goes, Time Bomb, is of little concern to us. It remains to be seen whether it causes fewer adverse events for Dutch agriculture in Brussels than in the Netherlands.


Here, politicians have more options to stop him than when he works in Brussels. In any case, we will vote first and that will give us the opportunity to steer a somewhat different course, with the realization that we are just a cog in the eu
Subscriber
Term 25 July 2023
Make him mayor of Antarctica.
Subscriber
frog 25 July 2023
term wrote:
Make him mayor of Antarctica.
Better yet make them King of the Netherlands, a purely ceremonial position.
Subscriber
Arie poor branch. 25 July 2023
And you wouldn't look out of place as his pallbearer, I think, dear Frog.
Subscriber
Zeeuw 7 August 2023
Stuffed gnome plop should stay in Limburg. Only there do they believe what he says. He lies just as straight as van der Wal. Van der Wal said nothing about reporting points for new nature, but did give Staatssss forest management time and opportunity to submit wishes. Still say you're not lying!!!!!!! It seems to be Rutte; no active memory, now looking for job elsewhere !!!
Subscriber
peta 8 August 2023
In limburg they certainly don't need this volgevr.... potentate either.
Let him fill his belly in Brussels!
You can no longer respond.

Sign up for our newsletter

Sign up and receive the latest news in your inbox every day

News Manure

Less nitrogen from manure, (still) above new ceiling

Opinions Jaap Major

Agriculture and nitrogen: problem or solution?

Analysis milk

Validating emission quota per company is a big job

Background Business

Fertilization in NV areas increasingly under pressure

Call our customer service +0320 - 269 528

or mail to supportboerenbusiness. Nl

do you want to follow us?

Receive our free Newsletter

Current market information in your inbox every day

Login/Register