Background Nitrogen mood
The farmer: You won't see it until you realize it
It will take until the summer of next year before there is a new cabinet that is fully represented and competent to govern. Piet Adema, demissionary minister of Agriculture, expressed that expectation a podcast with Tijs van den Brink. Until then, the Netherlands will therefore still have to deal with him and his equally clipped colleagues. In our Nitrogen Mood section, we give an impression of the nitrogen crisis in our own way.
So there will be no real government for the next twelve months. That is also not allowed, except to implement standing policy and to make decisions about subjects that have been declared 'non-controversial' by the House of Representatives.
After-damage and run away
It results in aftermath of a fallen cabinet, sometimes frustrated ministers who would have liked to do more, also ministers who run away to nicer jobs (see Wopke Hoekstra to Brussels) and a situation in which the judge sometimes gives more direction than the government. Because in the absence of political decision-making, action groups try to get answers from the courts. Society can already prepare itself for that.
NSC at the last minute
At the last minute, a major contender has emerged for the November parliamentary elections: the New Social Contract (NSC) of independent MP Pieter Omtzigt. This party has already been bombarded as one of the big winners in November and will also take a lot of wind out of the sails of the other newcomer, the BBB. Time will tell how it goes. At first glance, both parties have a lot in common. They want to return to a society in which not everything is different than it seems, where you do not immediately get lost in an official maze when you come into contact with the government and where not everyone places the responsibility with someone else or with a protocol.
Not very pronounced
When it comes to agriculture, NSC is not very outspoken, almost evasive even. At least, if you do Basic document Political line Group Omtzigt read and view the NSC website. Maybe it's still a work in progress. In the House of Representatives, Omtzigt often agreed with Caroline van der Plas. There are, of course, other political parties with which agriculture and the countryside as a group can feel somewhat comfortable. However, a number of them also have to carry out repairs to the damage suffered in the last Rutte cabinet. Many loyal CDA and VVD voters outside the Randstad no longer feel at home with their old party.
Cultural fault lines
Cultural fault lines are also becoming more visible at the ChristenUnie. In recent years, this party seems to have almost completely alienated itself from agriculture, in which it used to be quite strong. Climate over agriculture. That issue is also often thrown on the table in other parties and by other groups as if it were a choice, but the question is whether that is fair. Agriculture causes a lot of emissions, but don't other 'actors'? Aviation likes to be kept out of the discussion, but what about the millions of mobile phones that cannot do without a few new power-guzzling data centers every year? Or the throwaway culture? To quote Johan Cruijf: You will only see it when you realize it.
Randstad media
And to mention a few comparative CBS figures in this context, which usually do not reach the Randstad media. The agricultural area in the Netherlands has shrunk by more than 1970 hectares since 300.000 to less than 1,8 million. The number of dairy and young cattle has fallen since 1980 from 2,3 million to 1,6 million, while the pig herd has also shrunk considerably. According to the latest data, manure production has returned to its 1970 level, so it has also shrunk. Huge strides have been made in many more areas. RIVM recently also found that since 2006 manure from Dutch agriculture no longer poses a risk to Dutch groundwater. This anthology can easily be made much more extensive. Due to tightened policy and certainly also due to the image, it seems that things are going increasingly wrong, especially in livestock farming. The last cabinets have also made a considerable contribution to this, thanks in particular to the typical Dutch way in which the nitrogen issue has been shaped.
Scratch up
And then coming back to Piet Adema. For him, the nitrogen problem is a given, because that is the job of colleague Christianne van der Wal. Because he does not ask or is allowed to ask any questions about this, it is perhaps less surprising that he says (to Van den Brink) that he still does not understand why the farmers did not want to deal with all those billions. It's the same reason why the Grin family in Flevoland does not want to be classified as a 'peak loader'.
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.
