The Netherlands must continue to speed up its nitrogen approach. The European Commission warns about this in a letter to nature and nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal, according to sources from The Hague after a message from RTL News. An insider speaks of ‘a clear signal’ from Brussels.
The letter comes from European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius. He does not accept any delay from the Netherlands, according to his letter.
The letter comes not long after the provincial elections in the Netherlands, in which the BBB came out as the big winner. That party is critical of the government’s approach to nitrogen. She is against expropriation of farms and wants to move the year in which nitrogen emissions must be halved from 2030 to 2035. BBB’s profit raises the question of whether provinces still intend to pursue the reduction of nitrogen emissions. There is a lot of pressure on the cabinet to slow down on this dossier.
After the elections, provincial departments of the CDA argued for a radically different nitrogen policy. Nitrogen minister Van der Wal (VVD) has left the door ajar for this, but coalition partner D66 is sticking to the coalition agreement for the time being.
Read also: Caroline van der Plas after conversation with Rutte: ‘Situation is unsustainable, I expect elections’
No misunderstanding
European Commissioner Sinkevičius reportedly does not mention the election results in the letter. But the Lithuanian leaves no misunderstanding about the fact that he will hold the Netherlands to the agreements on the protection and restoration of nature. It is no coincidence that he comes with this letter just now.
He also warns that reducing nitrogen emissions through state aid, for example by buying out farmers or helping with sustainability measures, should not lead to more emissions being allowed elsewhere. It is unclear whether he is referring to the legalization of so-called PAS reporters.
These entrepreneurs, often also farmers, did not need a permit under the old nitrogen policy, but the Council of State put an end to this in 2019. Now they are without and enforcement hangs over their heads. The cabinet wants to use nitrogen space that is released by tackling major polluters to help this group, because they are in trouble through no fault of their own.
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Resists
Resistance to the nitrogen policy was the spearhead of BBB’s successful election campaign, which has become the largest party in all provinces and will soon have the largest parliamentary group in the Senate. Party leader Caroline van der Plas said the day after the elections that she would like to hear from Brussels what is possible to soften the nitrogen approach for farmers.
Vice-President Frans Timmermans of the European Commission then offered to explain the rules to her again. He promised to travel to The Hague earlier this week, after Van der Plas had announced that he did not have time to go to Brussels for it.
Read also: Reducing nitrogen to restore nature. Is Europe actually asking us to do that?
A spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality only confirms that a letter from Sinkevičius has been received, but does not want to say anything about the contents. “Brussels often sends out such signals. We are now studying the content.”
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