SGP leader Kees van der Staaij called the letter that European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius sent to nitrogen minister Christianne van der Wal last week. “How will the cabinet ensure that Brussels does not throw sand into the engine?” he asked Prime Minister Rutte during the debate on the parliamentary elections on Wednesday.
The idea that ‘Brussels’ has a special peck at the Netherlands is not only held by the experimental Reformed. ‘Brussels dictates’, was the analysis by Joost Eerdmans (JA21) in the same debate. But the European reality is quite different. There people look with a worried look at the Netherlands, which is turning increasingly red on the European environmental and nature maps, while the country has already been given so much extra time. That time is now up, because all European countries have made agreements regarding where they want to be in the environmental field in 2030.
People who have met European Commissioner Sinkevicius do not immediately think of the word ‘bedidious’. Sinkevicius is a somewhat timid, still relatively young man of 32 years from Lithuania, from the (rather unlikely in the Netherlands) party of ‘Boers and Greens’. He was minister of economic affairs and was assigned the post environment, oceans and fisheries in the quartet of EU commissioners in 2019. That is not a small portfolio, because it covers just regarding everything on which the European countries still have to do a lot of work to achieve the target they have set themselves.
Rules and guidelines
By 2030, all European countries must demonstrate that they are well on their way to the transition to a less polluting economy. Sinkevicius is therefore working on rules for biodiversity, water quality and the condition of the soil.
Before those much stricter rules enter into force, he must enforce the old rules. Such as the Habitats Directive and the Nitrates Directive. His big specter, he told the European Parliament in January, is Spain’s Mar Menor lagoon, a once idyllic tourist hotspot that is now a green mush full of algae. “Nearly unlivable. That is due to nitrogen,” said Sinkevicius.
A directive, to explain Brussels terminology, is a basis for a law. Once it has been adopted, the goal is set in it, but it is up to the member states to decide how that is achieved. They must then include this in their own laws and regulations.
Letters and fines
For example, the Nitrates Directive, which has existed since the 1990s, states that a maximum of 170 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare applies to the Netherlands – but not how that should be achieved. The Habitats Directive contains rules for the protection of nature. The Netherlands is particularly troubled by Article 6 of that directive, which states that plans and projects that may have negative consequences must be examined to see whether they cause damage to a protected area. If that is the case, they may either not continue, or there must be compensation for nature.
Such a directive is not determined by a single Commissioner in Brussels. It is not final until all EU countries have signed it and the European Parliament agrees. The European member states have all agreed that the European Commission will subsequently check whether countries comply with those agreements. If they fail to do so, letters, warnings and eventually fines will follow.
The Netherlands usually reacts quickly when it notices that other countries are not keeping their agreements. The Netherlands regularly insists on enforcement of budget rules, and in recent months Rutte has been very concerned when it comes to European agreements on migration.
The Netherlands needs another four years
The prime minister emphasizes less that the Netherlands itself sometimes evades rules. Since 2015, the Netherlands has stipulated an exception to the nitrate agreements. A new ‘derogation’ was introduced three times – Brussels for exception. All those derogation rules stated time and time once more that the Netherlands was given a few extra years to adjust the policy, but even now the Netherlands needs another four years.
The moment when Virginijus Sinkevicius sent a letter to the government in the Netherlands last week was awkward to say the least. But the question is whether its content was indeed intended to be as frivolous as Van der Staaij thinks.
European rules must be enforced
Sinkevicius knows the Netherlands, at least a little. Not so long ago he completed his master’s degree at the University of Maastricht, a period he says he cherishes. From the perspective of Sinkevicius and his officials it is simple: there are European rules, laid down in directives, and they must be enforced. “The Netherlands should have limited its nitrogen much sooner”, is his simple opinion. He is not regarding the question of how the Netherlands should have done that.
How to proceed now? In the run-up to 2030, even stricter rules will be imposed on the Netherlands, as a result of the new rules for soil and water. The Netherlands can of course disregard those agreements, just as other countries do not comply with agreements on budgets or migration. But recently the European Commission took Flanders to court for that reason.
In order to prevent the Netherlands from awaiting the fate of Mar Menor, the Commission will eventually also refer the Netherlands to the European Court. After a conviction, daily fines that can run into the billions await. That too will not be a Brussels act of revenge, but a simple implementation of agreements as the Netherlands generally likes to see them – but when it comes to other countries.
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