The big upset in the Dutch Senate elections in March was driven by a rebellion against the Government’s latest green agenda. But, bizarrely, on this occasion it had nothing to do with CO2. Fighting just one atmospheric gas is not enough now, it seems; Western elites have also declared war on nitrogen, emissions of which are alleged to cause plants to grow and die in unapproved ways. There is said to be a ‘nitrogen crisis’ and taking action against it requires the destruction of large parts of the economy and the seizing of thousands of farms by the state. Are they just making this stuff up now?
Eva Vlaardingerbroek has written about it in the Spectator.
The Government, a four-party coalition led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), has decided that 30% of all cattle farms need to be closed by 2030 in order to halve nitrogen emissions – which it says pose a threat to the Dutch environment, as protected under the European Union’s ‘Natura 2000’ regulations. Apparently we have a ‘nitrogen crisis’ because the gas causes certain plants to die or grow in areas where EU bureaucrats have decided that they shouldn’t.
Dutch farmers will be forced to either sell their land to the state now or face expropriation later. If the destruction of Holland’s farming industry is carried out in the way the Government plans, there will also be consequences for the world’s food supply. Although we are not a big country, we are the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, after the U.S. It’s a remarkable position to hold, but if it’s up to our leaders we won’t have that title much longer.
The attack on farmers is part of a larger conflict between the authoritarian green agenda being pushed by our Government and the silent majority paying for it all, but whose opinion is never asked. Dutch voters – many of whom aren’t usually overly political, but who understand that our farmers are feeding our nation and the rest of the world – are growing tired of globalists’ policies to ‘save the planet’ with synthetic meat, edible insects, solar panels and wind turbine parks.
And so on March 15th, the elections resulted in a landslide victory for the BoerBurgerBeweging party (BBB) – which translates as ‘the Farmer-Citizen Movement’. The BBB won 17 out of 75 seats, making it the largest party in the senate. Rutte’s VVD won only 10. It was an unprecedented result, given that this was the first time the BBB was running for Senate seats. It was also, in words of the party’s founder and leader, Caroline van der Plas, a “big fat middle finger” to the establishment.
The Government and EU are insistent however that the agenda must go ahead regardless of the popular revolt at the ballot box.
Following its shock win, the BBB is facing huge pressure from both the Dutch government and the EU. On election night, Christianne van der Wal, the ‘Minister of Nitrogen’ (what a world we live in!) had the audacity to declare that, despite the BBB’s victory, “there is no choice but to move forward” with the nitrogen policies and expropriation plans. Two weeks later, the European Commission – an unelected body– proclaimed that “continued vigilance is needed to ensure the Netherlands will meet its emission reduction commitments”.
The Government could, therefore, cite the EU’s response as the reason it has to press ahead with its highly unpopular policies. In reality, it is still as wedded to the idea of a nitrogen crisis as ever, whatever the European Commission might say.
This is shaping up to be a massive clash between ordinary people and ideologically obsessed elites, particularly as on current polling BBB is set to take control of the Government in the coming elections.
It’s not improbable that after last month’s results the cabinet will not survive its term and the General Election that is scheduled for 2025 will have to be brought forward. Based on the current polling, BBB would become the largest party in the House of Representatives; and Van der Plas would become Holland’s first female Prime Minister.
But will the party stick to its guns and demand an end to the ludicrous talk of a ‘nitrogen crisis’, or will it cave in to pressure from above?
Worth reading in full.
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