Essay by Eric Worrall
The EU sees no reason to allow the Netherlands to change course, despite a resounding rejection of EU agriculture policies during recent elections.
BBB and VVD denounce ‘interference’ by Diederik Samsom, who advised the Netherlands to buy out farmers
The Netherlands has been advised by Diederik Samsom, who works for the European Commission, to oblige some of the farmers to be bought out because of the nitrogen crisis. Various parliamentarians want clarification about the ‘interference’ of the former PvdA leader.
European Commissioner Frans Timmermans would then ‘like’ to talk to BBB leader Caroline van der Plas.
Interior editorial 22-03-23, 07:49 Last update: 3/22/23, 2:59 PM
The NOS and research platform Follow the Money revealed Samsom’s role after viewing documents. Caroline van der Plas (BBB), together with her colleagues from VVD and JA21, asks the minister for a response to this ‘strange interference’ by Diederik Samsom. “He’s not even an elected representative of the people,” she tweeted.
PVV leader Geert Wilders is even more outspoken: ‘Unelected PvdA mastodon Diederik Samsom wants to tear the Netherlands down completely from the Brussels backrooms. How I long for a #nexit.’
Following the outrage, Commissioner Frans Timmermans is ‘pleasant’ to talk to BBB leader Caroline van der Plas about a solution to the nitrogen crisis. She is very welcome. I am very happy to receive it,” says the climate man of the European Commission.
Timmermans is happy to explain the European rules to the BBB leader, he says. But he insists that the Netherlands must then make choices itself, for example whether farmers should be able to choose for themselves whether to be buy out or whether they can be forced to do so. That is not up to us.”
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The European Commission is not concerned with how a country achieves its nitrogen targets, but it can advise on this.
Samsom seems to have done the same in that conversation. He pointed out, among other things, that the European Commission is ‘quite strict’ when assessing whether voluntary buyout schemes are not prohibited state aid. One is now awaiting approval in Brussels.
But with a mandatory buyout, the Commission is less strict, said Samsom. As a result, the Netherlands can offer higher amounts in a mandatory scheme or more favorable conditions for farmers to stop.
According to Samsom, there is little room for delay or flexibility at the European Commission.
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Read more: https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/bbb-en-vvd-hekelen-bemoeienis-van-died...
What a racket. The EU demands unreasonable cuts to nitrate fertiliser use, to satisfy their ivory tower environmental and climate rules, with threats of severe financial punishments for nations which don’t comply.
When angry voters kick out the politicians attempting to impose these unpopular cuts, the EU claims their hands are clean, because it was the elected politicians who made the actual choices which led to the populist backlash.
But the EU are still there in the background, demanding cuts which cannot be satisfied except by elected politicians passing unpopular measures.
Have elected Netherlands politicians been reduced to expendable scapegoats, puppets dancing to the bidding of unelected EU bureaucrats?
No matter which politicians are elected, they quickly get a visit from the EU, the real leadership, and receive a long list of demands, attached to severe penalties for non-compliance.
I hope the BoerBurgerBeweging / Farmer-Citizen Movement has the balls to call the EU’s bluff. This disgusting charade, this green EU tyranny, can only continue so long as it operates from the shadows.
If the BBB calls the EU’s bluff, and forces the EU to show their hand, to openly start ordering Netherlands politicians to comply, the situation would rapidly become untenable.
Because if you think the Netherlands would put up with that kind of open contempt and abuse towards their sovereign and their nation, being openly ordered around like the help, you don’t know many Dutch people.
