Farmers and sympathizers are on the road today to take action against the government’s nitrogen policy. The cabinet wants to sit down with the activists and has appointed a mediator for this. Johan Remkes has to start the conversation.
Remkes (VVD) will start preparing from 13 July. The idea is that the talks will start in the second half of August, Agriculture Minister Henk Staghouwer writes in a letter to the House. Staghouwer and nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal have asked Remkes to independently lead the discussions between “the cabinet, other authorities, the agricultural sector and other interested organizations”.
The VVD member has a lot of experience as a director and is often called upon as a crisis manager, for example after political problems in Limburg and The Hague. He was also asked last year to pull the lengthy formation out of the doldrums.
In The Hague, therefore, setting up a mediator is now a tried and tested recipe. Mediators were previously deployed to ensure that all unsecured level crossings are closed or secured and to consult with Zeeland about compensation after the marine barracks did not eventually move from Doorn to Vlissingen.