NOS News•
Farmers and nitrogen, the wallet, climate and energy, housing, migration and trust in politics. Major topics that play a national role and that also dominate the political discussion in the province. It is not for nothing that these are the themes of the election debate today on NPO Radio 1.
Party chairmen of sixteen parties from the House of Representatives have been invited to debate with each other less than two weeks before the Provincial Council elections. That is quite a few participants, admits political reporter Wilma Borgman, who presents the radio debate together with Winfried Baijens. “But that’s good, because the multiformity of democracy should come back to the NOS table.”
The agricultural theme will be discussed first with the party leaders of CDA, D66, BBB and the Party for the Animals. Nitrogen and agricultural policy is a hot topic in The Hague and the provinces will play an important role in implementing that policy. But when will clarity come? What is interesting about this subject is that provincial departments of coalition parties CDA and VVD defy the national party line. “So we want to know: that voter in Zeeland or Limburg, what can they expect from the CDA?”, says Borgman.
Build new city
The second theme is the wallet, with the parties VVD, PVV, GroenLinks and ChristenUnie. Poverty policy is now often arranged per municipality, explains Borgman. “In one municipality you are better off if you are poor than in another municipality.” Should the province stop interfering with that, will be one of the questions.
Then on to living, with PvdA, JA21, SP and BVNL. “The provinces have an important role in this area,” says Borgman. In the coming years, hundreds of thousands of homes will have to be added and the provinces will be allowed to determine exactly where. Four opposition parties are allowed to shed light on this: should a new city be built? And what part of the new building should become social housing?
Migration is another urgent national theme in which the provinces have a big finger in the pie. Borgman: “In the cabinet’s new distribution law, it is the provinces that must monitor whether the municipalities are doing what they are supposed to do.” And the campaign is mainly about whether the province can and wants to do even more, or whether the limit has been reached for the time being. CDA, PVV, GroenLinks and Volt will discuss this.
And climate and energy, which D66, SP, JA21, Party for the Animals and FvD are discussing with each other. “Whether or not a windmill in your backyard, it’s the province that determines that,” political reporter Borgman explains the importance of the subject. But the province is also about making houses energy-neutral, about fields full of solar panels and about a nuclear power plant (whether or not in your backyard).
And the last theme is trust in politics. “You see an enormous fragmentation in the House of Representatives, will we soon see this continue in the province?” Borgman wonders. “And what does that mean for manageability?” These are questions that the chairmen of the VVD, PvdA, SGP and BBB will have to answer.
Borgman says to expect fireworks in all subjects. “These are all topics that are important to everyone,” she says. “And it’s up to Winfried and me to manage those fireworks.”
