Top civil servant Sandor Gaastra: Minister Eric Wiebes did not come with only the argument ‘safety of the Groningers’

“The minister also looked for arguments to convince his colleagues. I think he was right to realize that ‘just a story about the safety of Groningers’ won’t get me there. For many others, this has financial implications. I also need a story about the finances in the Council of Ministers, so as to get my colleagues, the Minister of Finance first, along. Hence the pressure: we cannot calculate whether accelerated to zero also yields a financial plus, because then you have fewer damage and processing costs.”