NOS News•
A cabinet delegation of six ministers, including Prime Minister Rutte, is currently talking to Groningen administrators about the future prospects of the earthquake area. The meeting will take place in the provincial government building in Groningen.
In addition to the Prime Minister, State Secretary Vijlbrief and Ministers Bruins Slot, Adriaansens, De Jonge and Schouten are also present. On behalf of the region, King’s Commissioner Paas and the Groningen mayor Schuiling, among others, are joining. Chairman Remkes of the National Program Groningen is also present at the meeting.
Two months ago, a parliamentary committee of inquiry ruled that the years of gas extraction had been disastrous for the people of Groningen and that the Netherlands owed Groningen a debt of honor. The conversation in Groningen will, among other things, be about how the cabinet can pay off that debt of honor, according to Prime Minister Rutte. Earlier, Groningen administrators said they would demand 30 billion euros in long-term investments.
Rutte says “no major announcements to be expected this evening”. Before the start of the conversation, Rutte did say that the people of Groningen have been hit hard and feel abandoned. According to him, it is “incredibly important that we do justice”.
But according to King Paas’s commissioner, the Groningen administrators and the cabinet are still “a long way from each other”. The Groningen mayor speaks of a “quest” and a “puzzle” in repaying the debt of honor to Groningen.
Puzzle
The cabinet is expected to respond next month to the firm conclusions of the parliamentary committee of inquiry. He concluded, among other things, that for decades the safety of Groningen residents had been subordinated to financial and economic interests in gas extraction, and that too little attention was paid to the damage and fear caused by the earthquakes.
State Secretary Vijlbrief van Mijnbouw, who has acknowledged several times that the psychological consequences of gas extraction were underestimated by The Hague for a long time, says he “knows what people want” and also knows “what we offer”. But he stressed that it is “not a fish market”. “It’s about people’s social and mental health and economic perspectives.”
