BELGIAN
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The Flemish nitrogen minister must be secured and there are also protests from farmers there. But it is not as violent as in the Netherlands in our southern neighbors. “What we have seen in the Netherlands is hallucinatory and unacceptable,” says the Flemish Minister for the Environment Zuhal Demir (N-VA) in the studio of news hour.
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Demir, mother of a four-year-old child, sympathizes with her Dutch colleague Christianne van der Wal, who got a visit at home of angry farmers. “Children are the most vulnerable in our society”, she believes they should be kept out of harm’s way at all times.
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Besides compassion, she also has a message for her colleague. She especially hopes that Van der Wal will stand firm: “The Netherlands will do your part.” She is firmly convinced that both the Flemish and Dutch governments must now act.
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“If we don’t do that now, we’re going to promise things to farmers that we can’t deliver. That’s lying.” Demir thinks that the same problems will return in the foreseeable future. “And then they say: look, politicians don’t dare to make decisions.”
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Demir previously expressed support for her Dutch colleague Christianne van der Wal via Twitter:
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There were also fierce protests in Flanders. Things have calmed down there now. The measures are clear and the objection period has expired: 41 major polluters must be closed in 2025 and bought out. In addition, the livestock is reduced.
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The atmosphere at a demonstration on Wednesday evening was pleasant. But when the minister traveled through Flanders to discuss the measures, there was a lot of resistance. LTO leader Sjaak van der Tak, who represents farmers and horticulturists in the Netherlands, praises the Flemish minister, who has explained her policy in small halls. He misses the dialogue with The Hague, he says.
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Demir is happy to explain her policy. “As an elected representative, you have to tell your story. But we can no longer grind and wet.” With that message she traveled through Flanders.
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Minister Zuhal Demir traveled through halls to tell her story:
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‘I haven’t slept well for a year’
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As far as Demir is concerned, telling that story also includes disproving all disinformation. “Angry is fueled by deliberate misinformation,” she says. “That’s throwing oil on the fire, but we have to throw water on the fire,”
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According to her, one of those stories is that there is no longer any place for farmers. But that is absolutely not true, says Demir.
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Ultimately, everything revolves around the public interest, says the Flemish minister. She emphasizes the enormous economic damage if there are no nitrogen measures because no more permits can be issued for industry, housing and farmers. “We must prevent a license freeze and our health and nature must not suffer as a result.”
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After the summer, when all objections have been weighed up, the Flemish Nitrogen Act must come into effect.
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