Last week, Prime Minister Mark Rutte promised in a debate about the nitrogen crisis at the request of the House of Representatives that he would appoint an independent mediator to bring the large farmers’ organizations back to the table. With this he hoped to be able to convince the demonstrating farmers that there is also future prospects for livestock farming in the Netherlands.
After Minister Van der Wal announced her nitrogen plans three weeks ago, fierce protests erupted across the country. Angry farmers took to the highway several times with tractors. Farmers also repeatedly visited the minister’s home: on Tuesday, demonstrators broke through a police blockade on her street. Protests have been announced again for Monday.
Due to his holiday, Remkes will start his mediation assignment on Wednesday 13 July, write the ministers† During the summer recess of the House of Representatives, he is preparing for the talks, which are scheduled to start before the House returns at the beginning of September.
Remkes, 71, has been asked more than once to steer the Netherlands out of the nitrogen crisis. After the Council of State dismissed the nitrogen policy in 2019, the government set up a committee, with Remkes as chairman. In the summer of 2020, that committee presented its final report Not everything is possible everywhere† The conclusion: halving nitrogen emissions by 2030 is necessary to restore nature and to keep the economy running properly after the corona crisis.
The goals remain, Rutte said during Thursday’s debate. In the same debate, Rutte said he was in favor of a mediator. “But we’re not going to sit down with the rioters,” he added. “I’m not going to sit down with someone who’s ramming a police bus with a sledgehammer.”
As a former Member of Parliament, State Secretary, Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister, Remkes has the reputation of ‘national fire extinguisher’ in politics in The Hague. For example, ten months ago, at the request of the VVD, as an informateur, Remkes had to pull the stalled formation out of the doldrums. Before that, Remkes, as the king’s commissioner in Limburg, tackled a management crisis. Remkes was also previously acting mayor of The Hague.