Groningen province to press charges against farmers' group in expropriation conflict

The Province of Groningen is pressing formal charges against Farmers Defense Force (FDF), King’s Commissioner Rene Paas told RTV Noord. The farmers’ protest group threatened to start a “war” over the expropriation of a farming family in Lucaswolde. Paas considers that “intimidation” of the Provincial Council and will file charges with the police.

“Threats are being made about all sorts of things, and that puts Provincial Council members under pressure. The fact that there are now threats of war goes beyond all bounds,” Paas said.

This issue has to do with the development of a water storage facility near Lucaswolde in the municipality of Westerkwartier, needed to collect excess rainwater and prevent flooding. The province has been working on this project for years and already owns 93 percent of the land it needs.

The only exception is a 31-hectare farm owned by the Van der Veen family. Despite many years of negotiations between the province and the family, no agreement has been reached in which the family voluntarily sells their land to the province.

On Wednesday, the Provincial Council voted in favor of the forced expropriation of this land. That means that a government agency will take over the land against the family’s will. This is only permitted if a project is in the interest of society and all other options have been exhausted.

FDF is less than happy about this vote, especially because a majority of the BBB members on the Groningen Provincial Council supported expropriation. FDF Chairman Mark van den Oever has contacted BBB parliamentarian Caroline van der Plas, trying to force the faction in the Groningen Provincial Council to reverse the decision.

“We presented Van der Plas with an ultimatum. We demand that this matter be resolved within 24 hours. Otherwise, it will be war,” Van den Oever said on Friday.

“What BBB has done to this family and all farmers in the Netherlands by agreeing to expropriation marks a definitive turning point. We will not forget this,” the FDF board said.

Paas told RTV Noord that the council members made this very difficult decision very carefully. “That is democracy: weighing options, making decisions, and being accountable. No one - no activist group, no lobby, no ultimatum - may pressure elected representatives to vote in a certain way. That freedom is non-negotiable,” he said.

The King’s Commissioner stressed that the province does not have any issues with the Van der Veen family, who own the farm. “The threat comes from the FDF, not from the family. We have been in very intensive contact with them since 2014. My police report is therefore explicitly not against them, but is directed at the FDF.”

The Van der Veen family stressed to RTV Noord that they had nothing to do with the “declaration of war” and that it is entirely FDF’s doing. Son Hessel said that Paas has the right to press charges, but he also finds it childish. “It is his right, of course. But we have had all sorts of things thrown at us, too. If we have to file a complaint about that as well, we’ll be at it for a while. But yes, we have our backs against the wall.”

“We hope that a real solution will be found now,” Hessel continued. “Because this whole mess isn’t making us happy either.”

Van der Oever told the broadcaster that he is not impressed by the charges. “Let him go ahead and do it. I am not worried at all. I have already been in contact with our lawyer, and we are laughing about this.”

According to Van der Oever, he never literally threatened war, only that FDF would take action. “So, throwing out a press release and a vlog. Yes, then it becomes a figurative war, but never a literal one, of course,” he said.

In 2022, the FDF was behind massive protests against the government’s nitrogen policy, mostly involving farmers blocking highways with tractors. Furious farmers also showed up at the responsible Minister’s home and even forced their way through a police barricade to get to the Minister.

The unrest resulted in a massive victory for the farmers’ party BBB in the provincial state elections in 2023, and the farmers’ party became the largest in all 12 of the provincial governments.