Is the agricultural sector in trouble? Well, farmers are the hottest guys in Drenthe politics, as it turned out on Monday during an agricultural debate in Westerbork.
After the upcoming elections, The Hague will have a hard time with Drenthe to implement all nature and environmental objectives here. At least that’s how it seems. No forced expropriation of peak taxers for nitrogen, no more sacrificing agricultural land to nature and finally tackle that damned wolf. This was the tenor of a busy election debate on Monday evening in conference center Meursinge, organized by the Drents Agrarisch Jongerenkontakt and agricultural organization LTO Noord. Seventeen of the nineteen parties participating next Wednesday participated in the debate.
Many new right-wing parties
Well, many new right-wing parties will participate in the elections next Wednesday, such as Belang van Nederland, SGP, BBB and JA21. They set the tone with Forum for Democracy, PVV, CDA and VVD. It remains to be seen how many seats they will win and whether the conservative soup will be eaten as hot as served on Monday.
Thomas Blinde, the leader of the conservative-liberal JA21, actually briefly overtook his opponent Sam Pormes of GroenLinks on the left. Pormes endorsed the point of view that Drenthe should not pile provincial rules on top of national rules when it comes to plant protection products. “However, research is also underway into the cumulative effect of different agents entering the environment,” Blinde noted. “If it turns out that this accumulation is very bad for your health, then we as a province have to do something about it. And we have the tools for that.”
Honest story
All parties made it clear that they had the farmers’ best interests at heart, although Sam Pormes made it clear that he wanted to tell the honest story. “I can talk to you, but we are dealing with European regulations. You have to leave the EU if you want to put that aside.” And that is not an option for the internationally oriented Netherlands, he wanted to say. Bouchra Zouine (D66) also noted that administrators have done far too little for too long to better regulate agriculture.
The SGP is considered a somewhat mature party, but with 20-year-old Tom Koekoek a fresh party leader is put forward. The wolf is a tormentor for the farmers who, if it is up to Cuckoo, can be hunted heavily. “But your program says: ‘Don’t keep out, but manage’,” said moderator Andries Ophof. “That’s not the same as hunting, is it?” Cuckoo: “Well, in the election program you have to write it down a bit carefully.”
Then there is the nitrogen crisis that cries out for solutions. But expropriating the so-called peak taxers is the last thing you should think about, according to most parties. Although Hendrikus Loof (PvdA) is cautious. If there really is no other way, then so be it, he thinks. However, Liesbeth Niessink (Forum for Democracy) thinks it is “a non-existent problem. Stop talking about it soon, then the farmers can go back to farming as usual.” But it is doubtful whether ‘Brussels’ and ‘The Hague’ also think the same way.