According to Bovens, there is a risk that nitrogen policy will come to a complete halt when the BBB is in power or takes its place in a coalition. ‘BBB will do anything to make it happen. The question is if this stalemate will help us, I don’t think the problem will decrease.’
‘The solution has to come from the centre. You don’t know what the track record of the parties that are emerging now will be,’ says Bovens. These parties are often built around a theme. “How will they behave as a ruling party when questions on culture and social affairs have to be answered?”
‘2030 not sacred’
As for the cabinet’s nitrogen policy, the year 2030 is “not sacred” to the CDA. However, Bovens doesn’t think his party will hold back as a BBB. ‘We’ve approved the goals, that’s what we stand for. The way to get there is the way of consultation». As for his party, the state will be reviewed in 2025 and 2027, “but we’ll start today.” And we ask the Cabinet to be clear in all sorts of areas.’
Upstairs, the dialer calls (adverb ‘a’ here?) to familiarize yourself with the views of the Board. ‘Then you will see that the rural area transition is described in a very realistic way. And then you don’t need the BBB at all.’
Heels in sand
Recent polls show a large benefit of the BBB, which is mostly at the expense (at the expense? Or is it ‘Leave recent polls..’?) of the CDA. “We’re about to beat the polls, we still have a full two weeks left,” Bovens says. “I don’t even know what the large group of floating voters are doing. Do they opt for reliability, for a decent policy? An anti-bias or for heels in the sand?’ (Could this become a list perhaps?)