Flevoland tried to coordinate the buyout of farmers with Schiphol

Flevoland Province may be guilty of forming a procurement cartel. The alleged attempt to form a cartel stems from documents the province itself posted online under the Open Government Act (WOO), as well as from conversations the broadcasting company NOS had with several legal experts on the subject.

The province wanted to coordinate with Schiphol on which farms of farmers would be best suited for buyout so that more freed-up nitrogen space would be available. This allows the price to be negotiated down in the agreements, but this is not permitted.

However, a provincial official wrote the NOS in an email that “farmers may be negotiating with multiple nitrogen buyers, driving up the price. These are market forces, and you can't always do anything about them, but it may make sense to coordinate on this."

According to legal experts the broadcast company interviewed, however, the province is not allowed to interfere in the operational affairs of farmers. This is because farmers who want to (re-)sell their farms in the future would no longer have a fair market to do so.

Pieter Kuypers, a professor at Radboud University, also told NOS that this supposed coordination regarding nitrogen rights makes the province a business, and therefore subject to competition law. But "coordination between parties is prohibited under competition law," Kuypers said.

The reason for Schiphol Airport's strong interest in the nitrogen space is due to the delayed opening of Lelystad Airport. At the moment, no air traffic can take place there, because the airport has problems with the nitrogen permit. However, with the buyout of the farms, Schiphol can use the nitrogen space that these farmers have used, and thus get a permit for their ghost airport, according to NOS.