ANP Productions | Source: ANP
Yesterday at 11:44
The Hague
State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief (Mining) is threatening to resign if his proposal to close the Groningen gas field is delayed in the Senate. “I am not going to experience that politically, then I will leave,” the outgoing minister said in a debate with the House of Representatives, which was briefly interrupted shortly afterwards because Vijlbrief was full.
Like several MPs before, Vijlbrief contradicts the lecture of VVD MP Silvio Erkens, who said that his party’s Senate faction only wants to ask additional questions about the bill before it is discussed. He also heard Senator Caspar van den Berg make a connection with a bill on security of supply that will not come into effect until 2025 at the earliest.
“That is a delay of one to a year and a half,” Vijlbrief told the House. He assumes that there has been a misunderstanding and that the Senate still wants to deal with the proposal quickly. “If there is a plan for this, then we are knowingly leaving the people in Groningen in uncertainty for an extra year to a year and a half.”
A hundred questions
Vijlbrief says he is happy to answer additional questions, although he has “already answered a hundred”. But he does emphasize that the political decision to put Groningers above gas was adopted in the House of Representatives by an overwhelming majority (146 out of 150 votes). “The country is not governed by the Senate.”
The security of gas supply can only be jeopardized if there are two very cold winters in a row, Vijlbrief emphasizes. The chance of this happening is “1 in 80,000” according to calculations by the KNMI. He therefore maintains that it is responsible to close the Groningen field completely this year. And it is really necessary for the safety of the people of Groningen, he emphasizes once again.
