Failed nitrogen negotiations plunge Flemish government into deep crisis | Nitrogen file

On Friday the nerves were too tense to conclude a nitrogen agreement because of the protesting farmers in the streets of Brussels. But the Flemish top ministers did not meet on Saturday either, and that was already a bad sign. Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) indicated that he would only convene the core cabinet once there was a clear prospect of a compromise. In doing so, he immediately raised expectations for the moment when the ministers would meet again.

As a reminder: Flanders must drastically reduce its polluting nitrogen emissions. All parties agree on that. But there is much debate about how those emissions should be reduced. In the past week, a lot of question marks were cleared up, but two bottlenecks have been stuck for weeks. Both have to do with issuing new permits to farms: the Christian Democrats denounce that there are insufficient guarantees for young farmers to start up and grow. According to CD&V, N-VA does not want to compromise when it comes to farmers, while flexible permits are possible for the industry.

On Sunday morning, Jambon came up with yet another new proposal in the hope of unblocking things. But that soon turned out to be a vain hope: CD&V labeled it as ‘mouse steps’ and ‘recycling’ of notes that Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) had already thrown up her sleeve.

LOOK. Prime Minister Jan Jambon issued this statement after the negotiations

On Sunday afternoon, N-VA chairman Bart De Wever made his appearance in the studios of the ‘VTM Nieuws’. There he repeated his call “to show statesmanship, to everyone”. Fortunately, the VTM studios are now in Antwerp, because De Wever’s own ministers were already waiting at the gates of the Antwerp town hall. “I don’t just come to Antwerp on a Sunday afternoon,” Deputy Prime Minister Ben Weyts (N-VA) reacted with surprise when he suddenly got the microphone of an alert VTM reporter shoved under the nose.

Together with ministers Matthias Diependaele, Demir and Jambon, Weyts retreated to city hall for hours for internal party consultations. Afterwards, Weyts appeared with a copy of the handbook ‘Constitution Fundamental Rights’ under his arm, better known as the constitutional law course that is given at KU Leuven. Allegedly a symbolic sign on the wall that ‘alternative scenarios’ were also discussed at the N-VA meeting in question. This can then be about coalition formulas in which CD&V is sidelined — even if the question is whether such a thing is actually realistic. The Flemish government cannot fall without another government party immediately willing to support N-VA and Open Vld. At the moment, no opposition party is really enthusiastic about this. Last week, Vooruit offered an alternating majority to help vote the nitrogen agreement in the Flemish Parliament, but not to join the Flemish government. Another option is that Open Vld and N-VA will only continue in a Flemish minority cabinet. But it is also unrealistic that CD&V itself will spontaneously step away from the government table to join the opposition.

After the internal consultation, the column of N-VA ministers drove in the evening from the Grote Markt in Antwerp to the Martelarenplein in Brussels. Employees and ministers of coalition parties Open Vld and CD&V had been waiting there since the afternoon, until the Flemish head of government blew a gathering. At 6.30 pm the time had finally come: Jambon called the three deputy prime ministers Bart Somers (Open Vld), Hilde Crevits (CD&V) and Weyts. The environment ministers Demir and Agriculture Jo Brouns (CD&V) also joined the table. And because they could not reach an agreement among themselves, Jambon even convened the entire Flemish government after 8 p.m.

N-VA made six more concessions during that session. Among other things, about the possibility for farmers to trade emission allowances among themselves this year. Farmers who stop are then allowed to pass on their permitted nitrogen emissions to younger farmers in the area. But CD&V stumbled over the extra study work that was linked to that proposal: the Christian Democrats demand hard guarantees for a smooth exchange of rights. The ‘red’ farms should also be allowed to stay open longer, until 2030 instead of 2025, N-VA proposed. Another concession from the N-VA camp was to recalculate annually how much extra nitrogen farms are allowed to emit. Those values ​​could be raised quickly in this way, albeit on the condition that the total nitrogen pollution in Flanders is strongly reduced. However, CD&V believes that agriculture is still treated worse than industrial companies on this point.

The proposals failed to produce a breakthrough. Just after ten o’clock the news came that CD&V had left the table. An embarrassment for Jambon, which had set itself the goal of finalizing a nitrogen agreement in the week after the spring break. It is unclear how to proceed with the Flemish government. “As long as no nitrogen agreement has been concluded, not a single important file will pass through the Flemish Council of Ministers,” fears an insider. Jan Jambon made a statement afterwards: “Two of the three government parties have accepted my latest proposal. I really hope from the bottom of my heart that these concessions will enable the Christian Democrats to agree to this proposal.” Jambon says it expects the answer from CD&V with their final position soon. The parliamentary debate on Wednesday has been put forward as a new deadline for this.

LOOK. Minister Hilde Crevits: “Still willing to discuss this file further”

OUR OPINION. “There is something more fundamental to N-VA than the damaged image of Jambon: the dented image of Flanders” (+)

ANALYSIS. The policy parties already had a lot to make up for with the citizens, that debt has grown considerably this week (+)

ANALYSIS. Does Jambon I choke? (+)