Minister of Agriculture Henk Staghouwer (ChristenUnie) has postponed his long-awaited letter to the House of Representatives, in which he outlines the future prospects for farmers in the Netherlands. Staghouwer would send the document to the House next Friday, but The Hague sources confirm on Saturday following reports by means of AD at NRC that the letter will not appear until later – when is not clear.
AD reports that sources within the cabinet say that the document is currently “substandard” and that Staghouwer must await Johan Remkes’ advice on nitrogen policy, which is expected to appear in the coming weeks. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture told the newspaper that the delay of the letter is not due to its quality, but that it is simply not yet finished. The ministry was for NRC not directly accessible.
While Minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen, VVD) is mainly responsible for the nitrogen dossier, she is assisted by various ministers in their own fields. Minister Staghouwer has the task of offering farmers perspective. A first attempt to do so, in June, was received little positively by the House of Representatives.
“Yet little more than a staple due to all kinds of existing subsidy schemes,” said SGP MP Roelof Bisschop about the fifty-page letter that Staghouwer had sent to the House at the time. GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver called it “broddel work”. Staghouwer promised to write a new letter, with better plans. AD writes on Saturday that government sources believe that the current letter “looked too much like the first note”.
Also read: Nitrogen Minister Van der Wal lacks support from her colleagues in the crisis approach