In the agriculture deal negotiations, Agriculture Minister Adema is meeting with various agricultural organizations, provinces, nature organizations and supermarket advocates. “We have no idea what’s being discussed, let alone where the soft spots are,” Bromet says.
Bromet denounces that the information of the conversations leaked to the media, but is not sent to the House. ‘NOS has the documents, the negotiating parties have the documents, but the House of Representatives sits there and looks at them but knows nothing. The Minister refuses to provide information.’
Courage and courage
The talks are rather stalled: Adema hoped for an agreement before Ascension Day, but it failed. However, Adema ‘continues to have faith in this process’, he wrote to the House of Representatives. Bromet: ‘A government has been appointed to govern: if it is not possible to reach an agreement, then one must have the courage to make decisions alone. This is exactly what the Cabinet does not dare to do.’
‘Sometimes you have to make decisions yourself,’ continues Bromet. ‘These are very big changes that have to happen in view of other interests. The question is whether you can make those decisions in consultation with the parties who will experience a lot of pain as a result.’
“If an agreement cannot be reached, then you must have the courage to make decisions on your own”
The environmental organization MOB also criticizes the cabinet for a lack of decisiveness. According to founder and chairman Johan Vollebroek, it is “clear that the cabinet lacks the guts and administrative courage to really get agriculture on a sustainable track”.
Bromet immediately wants clarity, even for the agricultural sector itself. ‘The uncertainty has now lasted for four years: there is no single vision for the future of agriculture. This is also very bad if you are an entrepreneur, I think.’
calculated
Adema has already sent a draft agreement to the Dutch Environmental Assessment Agency and Wageningen University, where it can be calculated. These results should arrive by the end of May. The parties still disagree on about four points of concern, on which no agreement has yet been reached.