Parties in formation talks investigating return of 130 km/h speed limit

The PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB are discussing whether the speed limits on Dutch highways can be increased back to 130 kilometers per hour, sources told the newspaper AD on Tuesday. The topic has been on the agenda for a few weeks, but the leak to the media now may be an attempt to distract from a looming impasse on the asylum and migration file, political reporters think.

Four years ago, the Rutte III Cabinet lowered the maximum speed limit on highways to 100 kilometers per hour between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. in an attempt to lower nitrogen emissions. But a recent study by Wim de Vries, a professor and nitrogen expert at Wageningen University, showed that the lower speed limit only reduced nitrogen emissions by at most 0.2 percent on paper.

Therefore, the parties in the Cabinet formation talks want to see if they can reinstate the higher speed limit. Over two weeks ago, they asked the Ministries of Infrastructure and Water Management and Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality to investigate whether reintroduction was feasible and what the possible consequences would be.

Political reporter Leendert Beekman is curious about the timing of this leak from the formation table to the media one day after PVV leader Geert Wilders left a formation meeting about the asylum policy in a huff. “It seems like a distraction from what really matters: asylum and migration. And they can’t figure it out now,” Beekman told BNR.

In any case, Nitrogen Minister Christianne van der Wal (VVD) was firm on the matter during a parliamentary debate last month. She has no intention of increasing the speed limit. “We cannot afford that luxury,” she told the parliamentarians. “The nitrogen bath is so full that it can’t take even a small additional drop.”