Background Nitrogen mood
The Hague spider at the collapsed agricultural consultation
Immediately after the conclusion of the agricultural consultation at the beginning of this week, it was of course necessary to make it clear to the Dutch public who was responsible for this: LTO Nederland, of course! Minister of Agriculture Piet Adema made it seem as if the last remaining farmers' organization of any significance had almost entered with one foot and withdrew at the last. The problem was that the organization "didn't come together internally," he added. Everything for the image, although the last addition was not untrue. In our Nitrogen Mood section, we give an impression of the nitrogen crisis in our own way.
If the ZLTO had not been obstructive, it might have been signed. It is not for nothing that the chairman of the agricultural consultation had reportedly already let slip that he would rather lose ZLTO chairman Wim Bens than be rich. Yet with a signature from Van der Tak there would not have been a real Agricultural Agreement, as Adema and the entire cabinet know. Because without the consent of the members of the LTO organizations, there was no agreement. And they still hardly know what was in the last draft texts.
Media tactics
However, the coalition's tactics worked for the political media in The Hague. Saying that it hadn't been her fault, that it had gone very well so far and that it was such a pity that LTO ultimately did not dare, while so much had already been achieved. Even the most dogged D66 member sang this song, perhaps out of coalition interest. But in the CDA, the discipline among the rank and file is apparently not strong enough. There the grumbling about adjustments flares up again and members put pressure on Wopke.
Perhaps the best example of uncritical journalistic compliance with this story was Eva Jinek's talk show, where - confronted with so much Hague cheese stop wisdom - even LTO foreman Sjaak van der Tak almost fell off his chair.
Lease rights as an allowance
In the meantime, in the eight months of negotiations, the government has barely made one substantial concession to agriculture, no first steps that inspire confidence, such as a solution for the PAS reporters or otherwise. The few PAS detectors that do receive a little extra room for nitrogen have to make do with rights that never become property, said Minister Van der Wal. They become a kind of lease rights.
Government never did
The parallel arises with the manure legislation. The Netherlands is colored in Brussels because the country has been failing to comply with the agreed fertilizer rules for many years. However, the primary responsibility for this lies with the Dutch government, because it fails to put together sound legislation that farmers must comply with. Instead of simply coming up with sound legislation, Dutch politicians are making more and more powerless noise, increasing the desired commitment and blaming farmers for not complying with it. Apparently the government is never to blame.
Edited report
Now that there is no Agricultural Agreement, legislation has to be made, Minister Adema keeps saying. That will soon take another year, if the hands come together for that. Adema announced that he would report on his findings to the cabinet today, but concrete items for discussion were not on the agenda. After the Council of Ministers a draft Agricultural Agreement with accompanying documents sent to the Chamber. The Chamber had asked for it. It will be discussed next week. Chairman Chris Kalden, together with Bureau Berenschot, which has been the permanent helper at agricultural consultations in recent years, quickly wrote a synthesis of the latest state of affairs.
Goal out of sight and bureaucratic freestyle
The saddest thing about eight months of agricultural tables - regardless of the outcome - is perhaps this: a process that was supposed to lead to the restoration of confidence has certainly not improved the atmosphere. Perhaps not necessarily between administrators and the rich, but between ordinary farmers and the government. This is mainly because the high-stakes process quickly derailed from a moral point of view. Because so much pressure has been exerted towards a desired result, by playing part tables and main tables against each other, editing summaries of meetings to desired outcomes, by listening badly, burning off sectors with one sentence (for example: 'the veal calf farming reflects the size of Dutch dairy farming') and by the unclear definition of what should and what should not be part of an agreement. Moreover, there have been regular consultations outside the regular process, i.e. the back rooms. In short, everything that does not fit with a confidence-building process has been deployed. The government's goal became increasingly dominant, the consultations degenerated into a bureaucratic game of freestyle.
Klaas van der Horst
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