A majority of VVD members are against the cabinet’s nitrogen plans. This will become apparent on Saturday at the party congress, where 51 percent of attendees supported a motion to that effect.
The VVD members think the plan presented on Friday by their own minister Christianne van der Wal (Nature and Nitrogen) goes too far. The motion calls on MPs from the faction to vote against the current cabinet plan. There must be a ‘careful, realistic and liberal nitrogen policy’. The motion counts as advice.
Also read: Nitrogen reduction means a radical redesign of farmland
The VVD congress will take place in Sugar City in Halfweg, between Haarlem and Amsterdam. There was a small farmer’s protest at the entrance on Saturday morning, ANP news agency reports. A number of farmers had stationed themselves with four tractors for the meeting. They distributed pamphlets to members attending the convention.
The plan that Van der Wal and Minister Henk Staghouwer (Agriculture, ChristenUnie) announced on Friday states that nitrogen emissions must be reduced by 70 percent in various places in the Netherlands close to vulnerable nature. There is a need for a significant reduction, especially in the central Netherlands.