Background nitrogen mood
Everyone is suddenly fighting for Remkes' hearing
Despite a difficult start a few weeks ago, Johan Remkes has nevertheless become the central figure in the nitrogen discussion. What will this imperturbable-looking retiree write in his final report? Unexpectedly, everyone is suddenly fighting for their hearing.
The officials of nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal are apparently also getting nervous. Why else another unpublished and unfinished report, dropped on the table at the NOS?
The report 'Review of critical loads of nitrogen' was written by two researchers from the Nijmegen bureau B-ware and a German colleague for the German Environmental Agency. It is about nitrogen deposition in general and its effect on nature in Europe, not in the Netherlands specifically. That some of the nitrogen standards in the Netherlands must be tightened is therefore not a conclusion from the report, but from lawyers and ecologists who spoke to the NOS. That it was written under UN supervision is also something the NOS reports.
Remkes comes with findings in the second half of September
Remkes lets it all happen. He was also given a few more weeks to prepare his final report. It will now be the second half of September. Contributions to this can therefore still be made. It is said to come after Budget Day, the day on which the government presents the extras for the citizen, cuts and cuts.
The conclusions and recommendations that Remkes will present will be the starting signal for a new round of political debate. What he will find is still unclear. Remkes keeps a low profile. He did let slip this week that he will also say 'sensible things' about perspective in his report. Remarkable, because agriculture minister Henk Staghouwer seems to want to talk less about perspective and suddenly calls his perspective letter that comes before Budget Day the September letter.
Remkes is sticking to the nitrogen targets for 2030 for the time being. At various points where agriculture would like to see relaxation, such as the Critical Deposition Value (KDW) and the nature maps, it keeps the uncertainty above the market.
Farmers' organizations that were with him this week talk about difficult conversations. Prime Minister Rutte, who occasionally talks to farmers, also mainly shows his formal side. He is also no stranger to psychological games, those involved report. An example of this is to first demand an apology from the participating farmers for rubbish on the highways, while it has not been demonstrated that they are responsible for this.
There is also a fear among some of the farmers' organizations that they are secretly being tricked after all. This week the concept of KDWt suddenly popped up. This is a temporarily reduced KDW, in which foreign emissions are left out of the picture. This would allow the granting of permits to be lifted and agriculture also seems to help for a while, but not at all in the long run. The fear of these kinds of scenarios is a sign of the fragile confidence in the consultations.
Everyone has an interest in breaking the deadlock
These are all things that influence the discussion. Nevertheless, the parties also conduct substantive discussions, because ultimately everyone has an interest in breaking the deadlock. An exception to this may be some of the environmental and nature organizations.
Klaas van der Horst
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