To vegetable protein, if it pays

There will be no meat tax and no VAT reduction on vegetables, fruit and organic food during this cabinet term. No one is surprised about this statement by Minister Carola Schouten, but will it come about in the next cabinet term?

Earlier this year, at the presentation of the plans for True Animal Protein Price (TAPP), Schouten said that the introduction of the meat tax could become an election theme, and she repeated this yesterday (Thursday, October 1) when the Permanent Chamber Committee of LNV debated the protein transition. .

With this, Schouten refers to structural changes that are the result of interacting and mutually reinforcing developments in areas such as the economy, culture, technology, institutions, nature and the environment. This definition of the word 'transition' also fits well with the shift from animal to vegetable protein. From farm to fork, from Farm to Fork, as the official EU food strategy to 2030 has been called. Both on land and on the plate, animal protein will become less important and vegetable protein will take up a greater place, if it is up to the European Commission.

But as far as the country's largest party, the VVD, is concerned, every Dutch person should still be able to choose and decide for themselves what is on the plate. Whether this is a piece of meat or a vegetarian meal. Distinguishing this by means of subsidies is, according to the VVD, a bad idea. Of course the party is in favor of a healthy lifestyle, but it is up to everyone to make their own decision. The party also wants to prevent unfair competition between agricultural companies, says MP Helma Lodders of the VVD.

Revenue model
Supermarkets play a crucial role in the protein transition. They determine what is put on the shelves and at what price. Lodders is disappointed with the steps that have been taken to make it more sustainable so far. According to her, there is much consultation but little concrete agreement when it comes to compensating the additional costs that livestock farming has to incur due to animal welfare requirements and CO2 reduction. "If higher sustainability requirements are set, the farmer must also be paid for this." CDA member Jaco Geurts also emphasized the great importance of a good revenue model. "Otherwise nothing changes."

The slaughterhouses, united in the interest group COV, are making themselves heard in a similar way. The idea of ​​the meat tax is no longer tossed in the trash in advance. COV is in favor of real meat prices, provided that the surplus revenue that comes 'from the market' flows back in full to the entire chain and thus contributes to compensating for the extra costs and investments that the sector makes in sustainability. The meat sector is prepared to further investigate other pricing mechanisms (than the free market - ed), is the response to the letter to parliament that the minister sent this week about the protein transition and the role of the supermarkets.

Government and market
If it is up to the opposition in the House of Representatives, the protein transition cannot go fast enough. These are the parties that do not consider government intervention a dirty word, such as the PvdA. Of course, the Party of the Animals pulls the hardest. To their frustration, the minister does not make a clear choice by also emphasizing that it is mainly the consumer who determines how quickly the protein transition will proceed. It is mainly a question problem. "When there is more demand, you get traction and farmers really go down." The government is able and willing to stimulate the process with, for example, a conversion fund and promotional campaigns.

German meat tax
The opposition parties in the House of Representatives seem to have the German agriculture minister on their side. Since the corona problems in the slaughterhouses in June this year, Julia Klöckner has been more emphatic in favor of introducing a meat tax, which has been debated in Germany for much longer. That should be €0,40 per kilo. But the big difference with the Dutch approach is that the German Minister of Agriculture plans to use the proceeds of this levy for investments in welfare-friendly housing in the German livestock sector. In the Netherlands, the proponents of the introduction of the meat tax, united in the TAPP, plan to use the tax money for VAT reduction on fruit and vegetables. They do want to involve the agricultural sector in the precise spending of the excise duties on meat.

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