Farmers' groups present own nitrogen plan; minister Van Essen rejects it
Farmers' organisations want the cabinet's nitrogen letter withdrawn and fewer businesses to need a permit, but agriculture minister Jaimi van Essen says their plan would not end the nitrogen deadlock.
Farmers' organisations working together as the Landbouwalliantie presented an alternative nitrogen plan at the Nieuwspoort press centre in The Hague on Tuesday afternoon. The alliance consists of the farmers' action group Agractie and the dairy and poultry farmers' groups DDB, NMV and NVP. It is a counterproposal to the plans of agriculture minister Jaimi van Essen (D66).
The alliance says the minister's nitrogen letter, sent to parliament in June, must go. It focuses on the stalled permitting system, under which authorities can currently grant only very few permits for activities that release nitrogen. Its solution is to change the rules so that many businesses no longer need a permit. One option is to require permits only for businesses within 250 metres of overburdened nature. The other is to require permits only for very large emitters.
Jan Venneman, speaking for the alliance, said this is not possible under current law, so the rules would have to change first. Sieta van Keimpema of DDB called it "a paper problem" that should have a paper solution. The alliance also does not want to start nature restoration straight away. It wants the state of protected areas reassessed and new management plans drawn up afterwards.
Van Essen does not support the plan. He told the alliance in writing that the proposals are not entirely new to him and that he and Agractie look "fundamentally differently" at what is needed to make permits possible again. He said the plan would not free the Netherlands from the nitrogen lock (stikstofslot). "The package of measures we presented before the summer is and remains the basis; we will keep working on that," he said. He is nonetheless willing to talk with the farmers.
The minister holds weekly talks with farmers' organisations LTO and NAJK, but the groups in the alliance are not at that table. Agractie's Erik Luiten said a meeting between the minister and the alliance is planned for Thursday of next week. Alliance spokesman Jeroen van Maanen said willingness among farmers to take action is growing, "also for harsher actions".
Follow the story: stikstofslot
D66 (Democraten 66)
D66 is a Dutch political party. In this article, the agriculture minister Jaimi van Essen belongs to D66, so the nitrogen plan he rejects is the plan of a minister from this party. Dutch news often names parties by their abbreviation, so D66 is the usual way to refer to it.
stikstofslot
The nitrogen lock (stikstofslot) is the Dutch term for the situation in which permits for new building projects and for expansions that release nitrogen are blocked. This happens because nitrogen deposition on protected Natura 2000 nature areas is already too high. Because it affects housing, infrastructure and farming alike, it is one of the central political issues in the Netherlands.