Hans Vijlbrief will be grateful to Stef Blok. Blok’s last political act as minister was to sound the alarm about gas extraction in Groningen: instead of the planned 3.9 billion cubic meters, 7.6 billion will probably have to be pumped up this year. That is not an announcement with which Vijlbrief, the new State Secretary for Mining, could have started his term of office nicely today. Now he’s rid of that and can look for ways to calm things down in Groningen.
That won’t be easy, because the anger is just as deep as the damage to the bottom. Who would have expected otherwise from people who have felt so let down for years and who are still waiting in large numbers for an orderly settlement of their claims.
It is more complicated for the deep indignation of the provincial and national politicians, who in recent days not only stirred up the emotions but also the expectations in Groningen.
They should know better. That 3.9 billion was always a target, on the way to the end of gas extraction around 2025. The condition was always that the nitrogen mixing plant had to be ready to make the imported gas suitable for domestic use. Security of supply had to be maintained. And the foreign ones too: there are contracts with neighboring countries, in this case Germany, that cannot be broken just like that.
In cold winters, the Groningen reserves will remain necessary for a while. Political parties can disagree with this, provided they make clear how they want to keep the heating in Dutch (and German) houses at the right temperature. Anyone who does not do this is at least as much to blame for the Groningen frustrations as Stef Blok.
Vijlbrief now knows that he will not get a quiet period of familiarization. He can immediately get to work this week to see what is still possible as long as the nitrogen plant is not finished. And he must quickly talk to his party leader Sigrid Kaag, the new Minister of Finance. Because a serious response to the request from the province of Groningen and the earthquake municipalities to channel the proceeds of the extra extraction directly to the region this year is the least that the people of Groningen can now expect from The Hague.
The position of the newspaper is expressed in the Volkskrant Commentaar. It is created after a discussion between the commentators and the editor-in-chief.