The ChristenUnie wants every policy official at the Ministry of Agriculture to do an internship with a farmer, a nature organization or the NVWA.
According to the ChristenUnie, the practical knowledge of officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), where party colleague Carola Schouten holds sway, is lacking. That is why ChristenUnie MP Pieter Grinwis proposes today during the LNV budget discussion in the House of Representatives to send all – approximately four hundred – policy officials on an internship.
“If we ensure that every policy official has had his feet in the mud, we can better connect policy and practice,” says Grinwis. The ministry is already experimenting with a ‘practical day’ for civil servants on the farm. But if it is up to the ChristenUnie, the internship will last much longer: a few weeks or a month.
Governance culture
The internship will not be compulsory, but should be a ‘logical and self-evident part of the job’. Grinwis also thinks it fits in with the ‘new administrative culture’ in The Hague. He points to a recent adjustment of the rules to prevent pollution of groundwater by manure. Those rules were amended after thousands of farmers and organizations objected.
“After the judges slapped the nose in recent years, legal sustainability and European approval seem to have become the main goal, but that can be at the expense of good and feasible policy for farmers and nature, as threatened with manure and soil policy. ”, says Grinwis. “The government is there for all of us. That is why it is so important that The Hague is not a closed world, but that practical knowledge is a natural part of daily work.”
dairy farmer
In October Secretary-General Jan-Kees Goet – the most senior official at the ministry – already spent a morning with a dairy farmer in Overijssel. ,,It’s good to be here yourself, you notice that this personal contact is valuable”, said Goet about that visit.
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