Nitrogen agreement: Flemish government will only come together if there is prospect of a quick agreement

Eleven of the thirteen bottlenecks in the file have now been resolved, including the red list of companies that must close. What remains are the two hardest hitters: the unequal treatment of agriculture and industry and the so-called net metering.

If there are three farms near a nature reserve and one of them closes, the emission margin of that company should be able to transfer to the remaining two, CD&V believes.

De Wever: “Prolonging the debate is useless”

According to N-VA chairman Bart De Wever, it must be possible to allow agriculture and industry to move towards each other in a way that all parties can agree with. “It can certainly grow together as that nitrogen problem is solved,” he said on Radio 1 on Saturday.

De Wever does not want to pin himself down to a deadline, but according to him, prolonging the debate would not add anything. “It’s never going to get better and there are no elements to add to the file,” he said. “The most difficult bottlenecks remain. We are now in the high mountains of the ‘tour de nitrogen’ and we have to reach the finish. If you drag that along next week, I don’t know what could be better.” CD&V does not want to respond substantively to the interview with De Wever.