Green great reset policies aimed at cutting nitrogen pollution in Flanders have thrown the region’s coalition government into chaos, as politicians worry about the impact the measures will have on farmers.
Flanders — the northern, Dutch-speaking region residing within the Belgian state — has seen its ruling coalition government thrown into turmoil, after one of the three parties ruling the region opted to resist the implementation of green agenda changes aimed at curbing nitrogen pollution in farming.
The changes have largely been sparked by a green agenda push at the level of the European Union, with the bloc forcing both regional and national governments across the continent into implementing measures restricting the use of nitrogen-based fertilisers that will likely put many farmers out of business.
Farmers in Flanders are no exception to this, with many now extremely concerned about the new measures which will see the country’s pig heard cut by 30 per cent by 2030, with some businesses even set to be ordered to close by the country’s government.
With farmers staging a massive protest in the Belgian capital of Brussels over the green agenda changes earlier this month, the ruling Flemish Christian Democrat Party (CD&V) have seemingly had enough, walking out of government discussions over plans to curb Nitrogen pollution in the region, leaving their fellow coalition members, the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld) to continue the green agenda push on their own.
Both parties will likely struggle to get anything done however, as not only do they not have enough votes in parliament to get any deal on curbing nitrogen signed into law, but without the CD&V, the government may not even be allowed to rule the region at all, seemingly not meeting the minimum legal requirements to operate a government under Belgian law.
The chaos is likely a welcome sight for many of Flanders’ farmers, whose livelihoods hang in the balance should the EU’s green agenda end up being successfully implemented in the region.
It may also be seen as a victory for the political power of farming protests in Europe, with those in the region’s agricultural sector staging a massive tractor protest in the EU capital of Brussels earlier this month.
The demonstration saw around 2,700 tractors and other farm vehicles hit the streets of the Belgian capital city, with farmers seemingly hoping that the show of force would be enough to make their regional government rethink their support for the EU’s green projects.
While such a protest appears to have worked for now, farmers in other parts of Europe have not been so lucky, with those working in the Netherlands seemingly finding themselves in particular danger as a result of the EU’s war on nitrogen.
Despite staging multiple massive protests in the country, many of which saw highways completely blocked by farm machinery and refuse, the Dutch government has continued to push its environmentalist aims, forcing many farms in the country to shut.
“Our government destroys lives,” pundit Eva Vlaardingerbroek explained, detailing the story of one dairy farm that has been ordered to shut down as the government deemed it a “peak polluter”.
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