“I am sad, angry and disappointed,” said former MP Helma Lodders earlier in the day. “We were a party for entrepreneurs, proud of people. I’ve lost that feeling.” She hopes that the House of Representatives will still repent. If that does not happen, she does not rule out a farewell to the VVD.
Former VVD senator Sybe Schaap is also in armor. The fact that the VVD does not show its teeth on the nitrogen dossier has to do with the party leadership, which, according to him, is no longer sharp and feels bad about what is going on among members. “Mark Rutte has been there too long. You always have that with leaders who sit too long, then it remains empty behind them.”
turnaround
A motion by the South Holland VVD States member Mirjam Nelisse put things on edge last week. She denounces the models on which everything is based and finds it inexplicable that the cabinet is going for very strict nitrogen standards. Like most of the VVD members, she hopes for a turnaround in her party. According to Nelisse, nitrogen minister Van der Wal is carrying out ‘a D66 fantasy’: „There is no analysis of what the problem is and the solution. Now we are blindly following a system that is no good. We are head over heels for buyouts and expropriation. That makes you angry.”
Erik Ziengs (former MP) and party colleague Berend Stolk support the nitrogen motion. They feel alienated from their party, which makes decisions without discussion in their own ranks. Stolk: „That happened under Christianne van der Wal as party chairman. Oh, what fun it was, having a nice drink. But listen to the members and talk about dilemmas, just in case.” Former MP Hayke Veldman: „What I miss when it comes to nitrogen, is the substantiation. I only see models, but to measure is to know.” The Groningen farmer Dolf Vink advises his party to go back to the drawing board. “In four years we will turn out to have invested 35 billion euros, we have killed a sector, but nature has not recovered,” he predicts.
division
Other VVD members are a lot more nuanced. Former vice party chairman Eric Wetsels fears that the densely populated Netherlands has ‘lived beyond its means’. “Maybe we just have too many animals.” On the other hand, he does not understand that the rather rash decision to designate so many protected nature areas in the Netherlands can no longer be reversed. That feeling lives among many more conference attendees. There is a great wish that the cabinet will return to Brussels to reverse this.
In the run-up to the congress, the nitrogen motion of the alarmed Member of Parliament Nelisse was signed by more than 800 VVD members, an unprecedented number for the liberals. In the end, 51 percent of VVD members agreed. This makes it clear that there is great dissatisfaction within the VVD. Not just about nitrogen. Former councilor from Medemblik sees with regret that his party has recently agreed to many left-wing themes, such as raising the minimum wage and state pension, at the expense of entrepreneurs who can expect higher taxes. “If things continue like this, we will move even further to the left and we can also join the merger of GL and PvdA.”
The current commotion in its own ranks shows similarities with the commotion that arose in 2012 about the coalition agreement that the VVD concluded with PvdA. The agreement included an income-related health care premium. The protest against this within the VVD was so fierce that the coalition agreement was eventually broken open and the decision was reversed.
Whether that will happen again remains to be seen. Nitrogen Minister Van der Wal previously said that she understands that her message is a bitter pill for farmers, but states that there is no other way. If it’s up to her, the plan will be adhered to.
If that happens, eating cherries would be evil with the Limburg States member Teun Heldens “A drama for our province”, he calls the nitrogen plans. “A VVD that is in this cabinet and will vote for it is not my VVD,” he warns the House of Representatives faction.
Awkward
The Westland former MP Arne Weverling found the action of the nitrogen minister rather unfortunate. “Announcing doom for farmers with a big smile on your face… I understand that can be wrong.”
The morning of the convention began under a nervous star. Angry farmers had barricaded the street in front of Van der Wal’s house in Gelderland the night before. The expectation was that disgruntled farmers would also disrupt the VVD congress. That went well. Police, security and traffic controllers saw four tractors approaching and directed them to a vacant lot without any problems. Rabbit breeder Henk Oonk, dressed in an Indian suit from an online carnival shop, was given a place a little further on the sidewalk for his ‘nitrogen cart’, a handcart with protest signs on it. Whence the remarkable suit? “Indians were also driven from their home soil.” De Achterhoeker, who now votes BBB, hopes that the liberals will repent. “The VVD must wake up. Our entire countryside is dying. This will be a black page in history,” he fears.