Marcia Nieuwenhuis, Niels Klaassen
23 jun. 2022
Latest update:
14:39
On June 10, Minister Van der Wal . presented her nitrogen plans, farmers’ protests at her home and yesterday in Stroe followed, today she is defending the plan in the House of Representatives. The intended reduction in nitrogen emissions differs per area: from 12 percent to no less than 95 percent. Farmers in particular will have to comply. Probably a third of the livestock will have to disappear.
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The House of Representatives is deeply divided over the file. So presented BBB and JA21 an alternative plan, whereby they want to completely get rid of the rigorous nitrogen measures. Although the question is how feasible that is.
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BBB leader Caroline van der Plas repeats in the debate that the cabinet wants to ‘wipe out the farmer’ and that it is the cabinet’s hidden agenda to halve the livestock. “It’s about buying up agricultural land cheaply and selling it at a high price as building land. Will there soon be a parliamentary inquiry into the nitrogen scandal? The farmer is not listened to. Send the nitrogen policy all the way back to the drawing board, the foundation is not good. I am a member of the doubt brigade, yes, I am proud of that.”
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The input of Van der Plas, who is given 6 minutes to do so, eventually takes almost 1 hour and 45 minutes, because she is extensively questioned by fellow MPs. Several hard hitting collisions ensue. “You have populism and you have flat populism,” Jesse Klaver reproaches the BBB foreman when she questions scientists. “This is poison!” said the GroenLinks leader.
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Van der Plas himself became emotional during the debate. “We are here fighting for all those thousands of farmers. Those who are watching this debate now, may have tears in their eyes because of all that technocracy. It makes me emotional myself, I think it’s terrible.” GroenLinks leader Klaver asks her to ‘tell the honest story’ ,,And not just cry with the farmer. What you are doing is feeding mistrust.” Van der Plas, in turn, accuses him of “even flatter populism”. She maintains that she has doubts about the timing of a media appearance by nitrogen expert Hordijk, who was a guest in news hour† “Could the ministry have influence there?”
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Other MPs also react strongly to the contribution of Caroline van der Plas. Coalition party CDA calls it ‘bad and undermining’ that it outlines a hidden agenda of halving the livestock. “As if there was a conspiracy. That is undermining, this is crossing a border,” said CDA MP Derk Boswijk. VVD MP Thom van Campen also points out that it is not realistic to quickly halve all Natura 2000 areas, as suggested by BBB. “Then you will be immediately called back by the European Court.” At the same time, however, it appears in his heckling that he himself has ‘irritation and frustration’ about the map, in which the nitrogen targets are visible.
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Because also within the coalition sounds fierce criticism after grumbling in the ranks. ‘Minister, what are you doing?’ members wonder. At the VVD congress, a majority of VVD members voted in favor of a motion in which they called on the cabinet and the House of Representatives faction: ‘Don’t do this to the Netherlands. Don’t let nitrogen stop all progress and suffocate our country.’ With that do they reject the course of the current cabinet.
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Only D66 passionately adheres to the nitrogen plans, MP Tjeerd de Groot repeats that the state of Dutch nature is bad: “If nature were a patient, the doctor would say: there is only 20 percent of your health left.” , it is going very badly.” De Groot believes that farmers should receive a fairer price for their products. “And you have to look beyond nitrogen, we have to look at all nature.”
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D66 is seen by the opponents as the biggest defender of the nitrogen plans. Already in September 2019 he announced in an interview with this site to halve the livestock. The D66 member wants a “plan B” from nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal in case the provinces fail to translate the cabinet’s nitrogen targets into adequate measures. “It cannot be the case that we continue discussions for years to come,” said MP Tjeerd de Groot. He hopes and trusts that provincial authorities “have the courage to get started”, but he does want a big stick. The D66 member notes that during the farmers’ protest in Stroe, “farmers were talked into their mouths” by dismissing scientific facts as opinions. De Groot finds that “misleading and mean, all the more because other sounds were not welcome.” The National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV) advised him not to go there because of his safety. “What matters is that nature is going very badly,” he notes.
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The nitrogen problem was created in May 2019, when the Council of State ruled that the entire system by which the Dutch government regulated nitrogen emissions was in conflict with European nature legislation. After the ruling of the highest administrative court, the granting of permits largely came to a standstill and with it, for example, the construction.
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Nevertheless, several sources around the cabinet predict that Van der Wal’s approach will remain intact today. Commitments will probably follow to carefully implement the nitrogen plans. “But we were already planning that,” said sources at the ministry. In response to parliamentary questions, Van der Wal also made new calculations last night, in which the reduction percentages are creeping closer together and the largest outliers have disappeared.
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But a large majority seems to agree on the main target of a 50 percent reduction by 2030 – which is also in the coalition agreement.
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Click to see how much nitrogen emissions have to be returned to you in your province. Read on under the map
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In the meantime, the nitrogen debate is heating up. Proponents and opponents shout all kinds of things, of which some are persistent falsehoods† For example, it is often suggested that farmers alone are responsible for the reduction in nitrogen emissions.
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Also read: Nitrogen debate is getting higher and higher: five lies unraveled
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Marcia Nieuwenhuis
@m_nieuwenhuis
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Marcia Nieuwenhuis
@m_nieuwenhuis
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