Farmers’ sling propels party to Senate
A young party promising to give a voice to the revolt of farmers against the Dutch government’s environmental projects made a strong entry into the Senate on Wednesday.
In the provincial elections, the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) party is expected to win the largest number of seats in the upper house of the Dutch parliament, riding a wave of protests from the agricultural sector, according to an exit poll commissioned by public broadcaster NOS. What a blow to the coalition of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The party created in 2019 immediately underlined its commitment to defy the Dutch government’s nitrogen emission reduction plans which include a reduction in livestock and consider expropriations near protected natural areas.
“It’s so indescribable,” reacted to NOS public television Caroline van der Plas, the only BBB member in the lower house. She said the nitrogen policy is still “dictated from The Hague in a kind of dogma”.
The BBB is therefore on track to win 15 of the 75 seats in the Senate, ahead of the 10 seats of the center-right VVD party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, in office since 2010.
According to exit polls, the BBB party is in first place in all the provinces studied, with 31.3% in its heartland, in the rural region of Overijssel, and 14.3% in North Holland. , where Amsterdam is located.
This performance by the young party means that it could join forces with other political formations in the Senate to oppose the plans of the four-party coalition of Mark Rutte, on the verge of losing eight seats to bring its total to 24. This n It’s “not the victory we wanted,” conceded Mark Rutte to the Dutch press agency ANP.
In recent months, Dutch farmers have blocked highways, protested outside the homes of politicians, and marched by the thousands in their tractors. Their anger had garnered support from populists across borders, including former US President Donald Trump.
not heard
The government wants to reduce nitrogen emissions, a greenhouse gas emitted in particular by fertilizers and livestock effluents, by 50% by 2030. This measure is necessary, according to him, to solve the housing crisis in the Netherlands where major construction projects, which also emit nitrogen, have been suspended by the courts for environmental reasons.
The Hague wants to release 25 billion euros by 2035 to help the agricultural sector reduce its nitrogen emissions. But the latter says he is unfairly targeted by the government, compared to other sectors such as industry and transport.
“We don’t really feel heard, sometimes we don’t even feel welcome in our own country anymore,” Erik Stegink, national president of the BBB and pig farmer, told AFP last week.
In the Netherlands, the world’s second largest exporter of food products behind the United States, farmers are supported by part of the population. Upside-down Dutch flags, which have become symbols of their revolt, have flourished across the small country of nearly 18 million people.
The extreme right had seized on the subject, alleging that the farmers were victims of a “globalist” plot aimed at depriving them of their land. The populist Forum for Democracy (FvD), the big winner of the last provincial elections in 2019, suffered a setback despite everything, dropping, according to the first results, from 12 to 2 seats.
AFP
You found an error?Please let us know.