Despite the fact that the BoerBurgerBeweging wants more time to tackle the nitrogen crisis, Minister Van der Wal is sticking to the July 1 deadline. By that day, provinces must have their plans ready. ‘Only when the coalition agreements are ready, will we see where we are now’, says the minister after the cabinet meeting.
Those plans will not be ‘set in stone’ and can be adjusted, says Van der Val. ‘Those are really the first substantiations of how goals should be achieved.’ According to her, the elections do not change the ‘statutory task’ that provinces have to come up with their nitrogen plans before the date mentioned.
Deadline off the table
A spearhead of BBB leader Caroline van der Plas is her strong criticism of the cabinet’s nitrogen policy. The party wants the deadline to halve nitrogen emissions by 2030 to be removed and that farmers are not forced to buy out.
Given that the BBB is the largest party in all provinces after Wednesday’s elections, there is a good chance that the party will become part of provincial governments. This could lead to the government’s nitrogen plans being thwarted, because the provinces have an important role in their implementation.
‘Semi-permeable’
The big victory of the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) ​​in the provincial elections is, according to Prime Minister Mark Rutte, ‘an unmistakable signal from the voter’, he said in his weekly press conference after the Council of Ministers. ‘We will have to do something with this signal, here in The Hague. Also in the cabinet,” said the prime minister. ‘Of course it is too early to say how exactly the outcome of the elections will shape policy.’
Rutte has not yet said whether he is willing to let go of the hard target that nitrogen emissions must be halved by 2030. The prime minister said that Johan Remkes had already written in his nitrogen report that an interim evaluation should be carried out. According to him, the deadline has already become ‘semi-permeable’: not completely watertight.
