It may be difficult for the people of Groningen to believe after more than ten years of unfulfilled or even broken promises from The Hague, but with Nij Begun the province really gets a chance to pull itself out of the earthquake quagmire and focus on the future again.
“Today is not a day for the cynics,” said State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief on Monday in Bad Nieuweschans at the kick-off of ‘Nij Begun’. To this end, The Hague will pump a total of 22 billion euros into Groningen over the next thirty years to give the province a new perspective after sixty years of gas extraction.
Vijlbrief is optimistic about the success of the Nij Begun project. “But also realistic,” he emphasized in his opening speech for the kick-off meeting in Bad Nieuweschans. On Monday, administrators, representatives and civil servants from Groningen and Northern Drenthe brainstormed for a day about how the region should catch up on its historic social and economic disadvantage compared to the rest of the country.
The belief that government can also do something good must return
Perhaps the greatest challenge is to shake off the cynicism that has crept into the northern ‘winewest’ over many decades. The people of Groningen lost their faith that the government could also have good intentions. “I also underestimated it,” says Vijlbrief. “The frustration, the sadness, the emotion. Not because I didn’t know it, but because I didn’t feel it yet; what a government that clings desperately to rules, protocols and its own right does to people.”
Exactly two years and a week after he first came to Groningen as State Secretary, according to Vijlbrief there is a solid basis to really work on a Nij Begun, or new start. Much has already been improved and simplified in the approach to earthquake damage and home reinforcement, the gas tap was closed and a law is now before the House for approval that should rule out that tap ever opening again, not even a crack, as at the beginning of this month.
“I hope that I can defend that law in parliament as soon as possible,” says Vijlbrief, referring to the ongoing information and information discussions about a new cabinet. The new Groningen Act not only regulates the closure of the large Slochter gas field, but also the 22 billion euros that flows to Groningen and possibly more money if necessary to realize all ambitions and agreements. An ‘insurance policy’ that the promised ‘generation-long commitment’ will actually continue to come from The Hague for thirty years, according to Vijlbrief. “Whatever kind of government there is.”
Nij Begun? Finally begin the recovery and strengthening process!
No concrete plans were made on Monday. But the kick-off meeting in Bad Nieuweschans was mainly intended as a first exchange of ideas. Initially behind closed doors, but the press was invited on Monday morning. There were also critical voices, for example from an impatient councilor Annalies Usmany who, after years of waiting, wants to know when the slow recovery and strengthening process in her municipality of Eemsdelta will finally start.
That remains the first priority for the short term, Deputy Susan Top also agrees: safety for the residents. “But we won’t make it with reinforcements alone. Then we will soon be left with a whole generation of traumatized Groningen residents, to put it bluntly.” To really break with the legacy of gas extraction, not only the houses must be strengthened, but also the economy, labor market, quality of life and the people.
‘Last chance to actually put ‘the resident first’
“That will be quite a complicated puzzle,” Top is already doing some expectation management. “But we are going to do something here for thirty years, so you should think about that.” Nij Begun will be a process of ‘different speeds’, says the deputy. The necessary reinforcement in the short term, new prospects for the longer term.
The people of Groningen themselves will certainly have a say in this, including with a ‘broad conference’ around the summer. “How many times have we heard this song in recent years?” Top sighs. “’The resident must be central’. This is our last chance to actually do that.”