Perhaps the stakes are more than ever in the upcoming provincial council elections. The voter can completely turn political relations in the province upside down next Wednesday, which will have important consequences for national politics. Not only in the Senate, but also for the many ambitions of the cabinet.
Incidentally, Minister Christianne van der Wal’s nitrogen plans are in danger of falling into the water. The provinces are due to present their nitrogen plans on July 1, and tensions can be felt against the cabinet of various provinces, according to political journalist Leendert Beekman. ‘MEPs are already saying ‘we won’t make it’ and oppose the compulsory takeover of farmers. So it will be difficult after the elections.’
If there is a political landslide in the province, it is not true that the provinces can ignore national politics. Public administration professor Michiel de Vries, affiliated with Radboud University in Nijmegen, knows this too. “They may say they won’t implement the national policy, but they can’t refuse,” he says. “If the government has made a law – with the consent of the Senate – but if it succeeds, the province must implement it”.
Electoral fraud
BoerBurgerBeweging, FvD and PVV, among others, have heard they will not implement the nitrogen policy from the toilet, something De Vries calls electoral fraud. “If by this they mean the province,” he explains. ‘If they mean the Senate, then I can imagine they don’t want to go along with the nitrogen policy.’
But, says De Vries, the province is in principle capable of making its own policy. “But as a province you cannot say that you are deliberately failing to achieve the central government’s goals,” he continues. ‘So, for the most part they are indeed executive agencies, but they themselves determine how they shape implementation. Well within the objective of national policy». De Vries thus responds to statements by Johan Remkes to the WNL, who said that the provinces should not be represented as if they were simply executors of the policies.
To trust
However, De Vries still doesn’t dare say anything about whether the provinces will meet the July 1 deadline for submitting nitrogen plans. “I don’t think the law has been passed yet,” he continues. “Depending on that, it can be said whether the provinces should be involved or not.”
The year 2030 is pivotal to these nitrogen plans, Beekman adds. “That’s what the policy is about and that’s what the coalition deal says,” he says. “Meanwhile letters of all kinds have been sent to the Chamber and the provinces have set to work, but the law still says that the goal is 2035”. The bill that has yet to be discussed by both houses wants to bring it back to 2030. “But for now there is nothing in the law, so it could be said that if the province says it will comply with the law, it can indeed adhere to 2035” .
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
