There will be an emergency debate in the Provincial Council following the resignation of BBB deputy Egbert van Dijk. Tomorrow morning. Van Dijk announced last night that he no longer wants to be a deputy, because he says he is distrusted and opposed by a small part of his own faction and fellow deputy Gert-Jan Schuinder, who is also from the BBB.
Schuinder and the GS council do not want to respond and will first wait for the emergency debate. Today there was a crisis meeting in the Provincial Executive at the provincial government building, where the faction leaders of the council parties (BBB, VVD, CDA and PvdA) also attended.
A spokesperson for GS has already announced that there will be no new deputy in the short term, but that the other four will divide Van Dijk’s tasks. In the meantime, the BBB will look for a replacement.
According to Vossebeld, Van Dijk’s resignation came as a complete surprise and the accusation of distrust and obstruction, he leaves that to Van Dijk. According to Vossebeld, the faction in the Provincial Council (PS) often clashes with its own deputy is “because the goal is the same, but there is a difference in the route to that goal”.
Nonsense, according to a number of opposition parties. According to them, it is yet another proof that the BBB faction in the Provincial Council often wants something different from the BBB deputies or puts on the brakes. Van Dijk himself mentions the issue of the nine fauna tunnels as an example in an interview with RTV Drenthe. These were recently constructed under provincial road N374, which runs through a nature reserve.
The BBB faction did not want fauna tunnels and the money to be spent elsewhere. But that was not possible, the money came from The Hague and was specifically intended for this purpose.
Van Dijk has been planning to resign for some time. According to insiders, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the torpedoing of his proposal to impose a fertilizer ban on farmers who want to lease agricultural land from the province.
Because this creates nitrogen space, Van Dijk saw an opportunity to help some PAS detectors in the province who have been unable to move for years. Nonsensical and thoughtless, his own faction judged.
Van Dijk does not want to talk about what is happening in the Board of Provincial Executive (GS), but does mention as an example files that are on his desk and can be completed, but about which colleague BBB deputy Gert-Jan Schuinder always has new questions and lies down in front of them.
Van Dijk tells RTV Drenthe that he waited to resign until after the farewell of King’s Commissioner Jetta Klijnsma in order not to spoil her farewell party.
Group chairman Jan Steenbergen of Sterk Lokaal and Harry Omlo of JA21 initiated the emergency debate. Steenbergen says he will enter into the debate “constructively” and, like Omlo, has concerns about the continuity of the provincial government.
Omlo: “I want to know how GS functions, what the atmosphere is like and whether anything has been left behind. I find the content of Van Dijk’s resignation letter very worrying, I want to know from Deputy Schuinder what he thinks of Van Dijk’s statements.”
For D66 frontwoman Anry Kleine Deters, this is yet another proof that the BBB does not participate in governance, but is trying to delay major issues such as nitrogen and nature restoration. “No PAS reporters have been helped in the past two years and there has been no perspective for farmers.” Kleine Deters finds the situation that has arisen “misery” and “bad for the image and confidence in politics.”
The faction leaders of BBB, VVD and CDA keep quiet about how they will enter the debate. The PvdA leader in PS could not be reached.
Van Dijk also told RTV Drenthe last night that he is being threatened, he suspects by BBB supporters. “There have been cameras around my house for a year by order of the ministry. I don’t want this and I don’t want to work this way. BBB faction chairman Willem Vossenbeld: “We strongly disapprove of the threats and intimidation that Egbert has received from residents.
We will never tolerate such behavior.” GS also said it “strongly disapproves and finds it unacceptable.”