Regional CDA members criticize Cabinet's nitrogen policy

Some regional CDA members say the goals their party and the Cabinet have set for lowering nitrogen emissions are unachievable and should be reconsidered. Several provincial administrators may choose not to implement the policy unless its impact on farmers is taken into account, according to the NOS.

At a meeting with party leaders Wopke Hoekstra and Pieter Heerma and MP Derk Boswijk, around 100 members –– many of them involved in local or regional politics –– made their opinions known. Boswijk also criticized the current nitrogen plans, saying he warned Nature and Nitrogen Minister Christianne van der Wal beforehand that they would not go over well.

"What is happening is really wrong. If the Cabinet manages to get all parties angry, you are doing something wrong," said Jo-Annes de Bat, CDA deputy in Zeeland, according to the NOS.

Eddy van Hijum, a provincial administrator in Overijssel, threatened not to implement the policy unless it has better opportunities for farmers. CDA member Iris Bouwers, a farmer's wife from Drenthe and lobbyist for LTO Nederland, said the proposal could "destroy our party from below," according to the NOS.

Hoekstra said he came to the meeting to listen and that he had been given a lot of "homework." He admitted: "All kinds of things did not go well in this file."