According to Van den Oever, the gap between the cabinet and the farmers is large. “The impasse is great. We are back to square one.” That is why he expects new actions. He will not say what kind of actions are involved. “We’re not going to dwell on that, but we’re definitely going to escalate.”
“All of us, including very moderate parties, have determined a strategy together. We wanted a small commitment. It will not come. Then the meeting farmers have worked out and the action farmers have to get back to work.”
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Debriefing
This morning the first discussion took place between the farmers’ parties and the cabinet about the nitrogen problem. LTO chairman Sjaak van der Tak spoke on behalf of eight farmers’ parties. Afterwards, the farmers’ parties came together for a debriefing.
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Jeroen van Maanen of the Dutch dairy farmers’ union announced the great disappointment among the farmers in a joint statement. “We had made a handout, but the cabinet has not addressed it. The ball is now really in the cabinet,” he says.
‘Words must become actions’
Van Maanen says that the farmers’ parties have been talking to the cabinet for 2.5 years. “Now we’re getting fed up. Words have to be turned into deeds, then we’ll start talking again.”
Agractie leader Bart Kemp is also not satisfied with the conversation with the cabinet. “We expected concrete commitments, we have not received them.” He says that Rutte and Remkes have seen that the distrust and the gap are too great. “Farmers will continue to fight for their future.”
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