Agriculture minister Piet Adema is shocked that the European Commission wants all vulnerable nature to stop deteriorating due to nitrogen by 2030. That is more ambitious than the cabinet’s plans, which want 74 percent to be below the so-called critical deposition value (KDW) – the limit of the amount of nitrogen that a specific nature reserve could handle by then.
On Thursday, a letter leaked in various media in which European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said that the Netherlands should hurry up with its nitrogen policy. He said, among other things, that it is “essential” that the “critical deposition value is not exceeded in any Natura 2000 area”. This should ensure that these vulnerable nature areas are no longer damaged by nitrogen and recover. The Commission will see to it that this happens, Sinkevičius wrote.
“That is still about something, so yes, I was shocked by that, of course,” says Adema about this passage of the letter. He also declined to comment on the letter. Like nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal, he wants to “first let us sink in on what exactly it says, what exactly is meant” before he comes up with a response.