During a debate on nitrogen, Agriculture Minister Piet Adema did not retract his earlier statements to deal “not dogmatically” with 2030 as a nitrogen target.
His statements sparked outrage in the coalition, among others. Thom van Campen and Tjeerd de Groot, MPs of coalition parties VVD and D66 respectively, had asked him on Tuesday to retract his words, because they believe that they are not in line with the report by nitrogen mediator Johan Remkes.
According to the minister, he did not say anything other than what Remkes advised, namely that evaluation moments will be held in 2025 and 2028 and then regional deviations from the 2030 deadline may be possible. But the 2020 nitrogen law says that more action is needed if farmers are not on course, argues De Groot. “You are throwing sand in the eyes of the farmers, precisely what Remkes warned about.” He emphasizes that the law takes precedence and only then does Remkes’ report apply.
Right things
But Adema doesn’t think he did anything wrong. “I’m really convinced I said the right things,” he said. He declined to comment on the question of what should happen if the targets set are not in sight by 2025 or 2028. That is what nature and nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal is about, he defended.
Van Campen is now satisfied with Adema’s explanation, after he spoke to the minister himself and saw the images of the meeting where he made the criticized statements. “As far as I’m concerned, the stocking is over. We have to move on,” said the VVD member.
Adema also irritated the opposition party GroenLinks, because he was apparently not well aware of the content of the nitrogen law. ,,You must know what the hell is going on,’ said faction leader Jesse Klaver to the minister. According to Klaver, Adema and De Groot are both right. There are indeed possibilities to take more time for the nitrogen targets, but it may also be the case that an acceleration is necessary. Van der Wal confirmed this.