From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
I might have known the EU were behind this!
Brussels has warned furious Dutch farmers that compulsory farm buyouts are the only way for the Netherlands to meet its EU climate targets.
Climate chief Frans Timmermans said the European Commission would explain the green laws to Caroline van der Plas, the leader of the Farmers-Citizen Movement (BBB).
The BBB triumphed in regional elections last week after months of tractor protests that drew global attention and the support of former US president Donald Trump.
Farmers oppose prime minister Mark Rutte’s plans to reduce livestock numbers and buy up farms to cut nitrogen emissions, which are caused by manure and fertiliser.
“The Netherlands can only achieve the targets by buying out farmers and greening agriculture”, Mr. Timmermans, who is Dutch, said.
“Let’s invest a lot in that. Above all, we have to give young farmers a perspective for the future,” the commission vice president told the NOS broadcaster.
The Dutch government says it must reduce nitrogen emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 to meet EU targets.
The BBB’s opposition to both the climate commitment and the compulsory purchase of farms put it on a collision course with the ruling four-party coalition and the EU.
Caroline van der Plas, the leader of the Farmers-Citizen Movement (BBB) which triumphed in regional elections last week CREDIT: REMKO DE WAAL/ANP/AFP via Getty Images
Mr. Timmermans, a commission vice-president, said Ms. van der Plas would be “very welcome” to visit Brussels after her landslide victory.
“We will then do exactly the same thing we have done before with officials, which is to explain what the European rules are,” the socialist and former foreign minister said.
Mr. Timmerman’s comments are likely to fuel online conspiracy theories that the nitrogen row is a globalist pretext to steal the farmers’ land.
Ms. van der Plas called for a meeting with Mr Timmermans after reports his department had backed the farm buyouts in advice to the government.
But the former journalist, who only founded the BBB in 2019, demanded he comes to meet her rather than her travel to Brussels.
“I understand that Timmermans also often comes to The Hague, so it can be done very quickly,” she said and demanded to know what solutions Brussels was offering to the nitrogen issue.
The BBB came from nowhere to become the largest party in all 12 Dutch provinces in an electoral triumph that raised questions over the survival of Mr. Rutte’s ruling coalition.
The vote became a de facto referendum on M.r Rutte’s leadership, who became leader in 2010 and is the Netherlands longest-serving prime minister.
The tractor demonstration by farmers drew global attention and the support of Donald Trump. CREDIT: Hollandse Hoogte/Shutterstock
The BBB can now use its 17 seats in the Dutch senate to try and block farm expropriations, which Mr. Rutte says are needed to lift a court-ordered stop on nitrogen-emitting construction of roads and housing.
Its protests have spawned similar tractor demonstrations in Dutch-speaking Flanders in neighbouring Flanders.
M.s van der Plas has said the movement is about more than just nitrogen and said voters are “fed up” with traditional politicians and politics.
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