On Friday evening, the Dutch Minister of Nature and Nitrogen Christianne van der Wal had to talk to dozens of farmers who came to her house with their tractors in protest. The farmers are demonstrating against the new nitrogen plans. “My children are shaking inside,” said the minister. Several politicians also react with disgust.
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Video footage from one of those present shows that dozens of people have come to the minister’s house and that tractors are parked. Minister Christianne van der Wal received a letter on behalf of ‘all farmers in the Netherlands’, said action group Voll Gass. In a statement the spokesperson for Voll Gass distributed, the group expressed its dissatisfaction with the nitrogen plans. ‘If she puts together a letter with measures that are the death knell for an entire sector, then we want to make some time for that. She doesn’t belong in that place. And she will know that too. That is why part of Voll Gass, along with other groups, drives to her house,” it sounded. The farmers are giving up confidence in the minister and requesting her resignation ‘immediately’.
Van der Wal sent the nitrogen targets to the House of Representatives on Friday. These are particularly drastic for farmers. According to these targets, emissions in Noord-Brabant, the Gelderse Vallei and Limburg must be reduced by more than half. In protected natural areas, emissions must even be reduced by at least 95 percent, and in the ring around these areas by 70 percent. The government plans have major consequences for farmers.
– Minister Van der Wal Photo: GinoPress BV
Van der Wal finally entered into a conversation with the demonstrating farmers on Friday evening. That is what a spokesperson for the minister said. When she tried to go in, someone still tried to talk to her. Van der Wal was not pleased with that. “My kids are shaking in here,” she said.
‘This is going too far’
‘Completely unacceptable that people visit politicians at home. Anger is no excuse. Threatening to whoever it happens to, undermining democracy’, reacted party leader Esther Ouwehand of the Party for the Animals. ‘Start the conversation, go to the Malieveld or demonstrate wherever you want. But leave our minister and her family alone at home!’, tweeted D66 party leader Jan Paternotte.
Jesse Klaver of GroenLinks finds the event unacceptable. He calls the protest ‘intimidation’. He adds: ‘I understand that the nitrogen decision has enormous consequences for many farmers, but this is going way too far.’ Marieke Koekkoek (Volt) thinks this is ‘not the way’ to demonstrate against government policy.
Caroline van der Plas of the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) also disapproves of the protest at Van der Wal. ‘Stop that. You don’t visit people at home. No matter how angry you are,” she tweeted. According to her, the majority of farmers also do not support this type of action.
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