The new Minister of Agriculture will be presented on Monday, exactly four weeks after the unexpected departure of ChristenUnie minister Henk Staghouwer. This is reported by insiders in The Hague.
According to The Hague sources, it would have taken a long time before the intended minister said ‘yes’ to the question that ChristenUnie leader Gert-Jan Segers asked him or her. It was already clear earlier that the party was struggling with the search for a successor for Staghouwer. Thanks to the nitrogen assignment and the future prospects for farmers, it is a fraught job. Who do you want to do that to, was the thought within the party.
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The new minister will be presented with this before ‘mediator’ Johan Remkes will present his findings on Wednesday. He also gives his vision of the future for the agricultural sector.
Since Staghouwer’s departure on 5 September, Carola Schouten has been combining her ministerial position for Poverty Policy and Pensions with that of Agriculture. She knows the department; in the previous cabinet she was Minister of Agriculture. It is generally assumed that she does not aspire to that job now.
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