The cabinet does not make any knots about nitrogen, but moves important choices to the next government. That is the most important news for Brabant about the plans of the outgoing cabinet for next year, which were presented on Tuesday on Prinsjesdag. The Council of State and agricultural organization ZLTO respond critically to the nitrogen plans. “This cabinet has been finished,” says the ZLTO.
The outgoing cabinet mainly fits on the store and moves difficult choices to the next government. That is the general picture that emerges from the Budget Memorandum. This is because the cabinet fell and there will be elections for the House of Representatives on 29 October.
2.6 billion for nitrogen
The cabinet is allocating 2.6 billion euros extra for the nitrogen policy. There will be voluntary stoppers schemes for farmers, money for innovations in stables and subsidies for projects to improve nature. Yet no hard choices are made to reduce nitrogen emissions.
The Council of State, the highest advisory body of the government, is critical of this, because, for example, housing, construction of roads and solving problems on the power grid are completely locked due to the nitrogen problem and lack of space.
Nitrogen problems in Brabant
Because vulnerable nature areas are doing badly, no permits may be granted to projects that would cause extra nitrogen in those areas. This causes a delay in, for example, housing and the construction of roads. To solve this problem, the nitrogen emissions, which mainly comes from livestock farming, must go down considerably.
According to the Council of State, hard choices must be made, which ‘almost inevitably also have to relate to agriculture, given the lack of space and the contribution to the nitrogen emissions of this industry’, the advice says.
‘Cabinet is finished’
Agricultural organization ZLTO also responds critically to the nitrogen plans. “This cabinet has been played out. Somewhere it makes sense that the nitrogen file is now standing still. That has been the case that it has gone to get used to it,” a spokesperson sighs.
“Together with other organizations and governments, we have put forward a nitrogen plan and hope that another cabinet will take this with us. There will soon be a solution. That is important for farmers, but also for housing and infrastructure,” says the spokesperson.
