After four days of criticism, the outgoing cabinet does sign. Last week Rutte III refused at the climate summit in Glasgow a statement in which more than twenty countries express their intention to end public support for fossil energy projects abroad from the end of next year. Countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, Canada, Italy and Denmark did sign.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte had called on other countries to “action, action, action” at the beginning of the week in Glasgow. Three days later, the cabinet itself failed. This led to criticism from activist groups and left-wing factions in the House of Representatives. Also last weekend, when thousands of people demonstrated in Amsterdam for extra measures.
Formation table
It also led to complications at the formation table. The parties of Rutte III (VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie) are negotiating a new cabinet. The government’s move was particularly wrong with D66, which has the most far-reaching climate agenda of the four. By signing the treaty after all, Rutte prevents this from becoming a theme that could damage the fragile process.
It can now be heard from the VVD that that party has never opposed the agreement. Outgoing State Secretary Dilan Yesilgöz (Climate) said on radio1 that “the content of the agreement is exactly what we wanted”, even though she advised against a motion last week to sign the agreement. According to CDA MP Henri Bontenbal, he and VVD MP Silvio Erkens asked the cabinet from Thursday whether the statement could not be signed after all. “Drawing is an important signal. We also wanted to keep an eye on what this means for companies.”
Also read this interview with Dilan Yesilgöz: ‘We’re not there, we can’t go chill’
‘Put big pants on’
Rutte said on Monday that with his “action, action, action” speech he “had put on big pants”. He “understands” the criticism that his big words contradicted the decision not to sign. Although he previously thought that “such a big decision” could not be taken by a caretaker cabinet. It was precisely this argument that drew criticism from him. After all, the outgoing cabinet is allocating almost seven billion euros extra for climate policy in the national budget for next year. Precisely because the theme is too important not to do anything, Rutte said at the time.
Reversing the earlier decision was not easy, said Tom de Bruijn (D66) in Glasgow on Monday. “It is a decision with real consequences,” according to the outgoing Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. Since last Friday, consultations have taken place in the cabinet, according to De Bruijn. “What makes it a little easier, of course, is that the forming parties are the same as the outgoing government.”
A lot is at stake for Dutch companies such as Shell, Boskalis, Van Oord and Heerema that invest abroad. The Dutch government issues billions of euros worth of guarantees on export credit insurance from the company Atradius. Those insurances are again for projects abroad, in which Dutch companies are involved. Think of dredging work for the fossil energy sector. Such projects are often difficult to insure with private insurers.
No more guarantees
The state will soon no longer be able to issue guarantees on a significant part of these insurance policies due to the Glasgow statement, State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief (D66, Finance) wrote to the House of Representatives on Monday. At the end of 2020, the state guaranteed 4.9 billion euros in insurance on fossil projects. About two-thirds of them would no longer be able to sign the statement, writes Vijlbrief. These are projects related to the exploitation of oil and gas fields.
Does this mean that no more fossil projects are insured with government guarantees? No, there are exceptions. It is not yet clear how exactly these will be implemented. For example, fossil projects involving CO2emissions are captured, can still be supported.
Not all European countries signed the statement in Glasgow last week. Germany and France, for example, did not. It was important to the government that the signatories included countries that also provide many guarantees on export credit insurance, such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and the US. That would partly protect the competitive position of Dutch companies. The cabinet does want to talk to companies to “look at what is needed to make the switch”, writes Vijlbrief. On Monday, Rutte did not want to comment on the question of whether companies will be compensated.
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