Reset This! Dutch Elections See Tractor Protest Party Trounce Globalist Govt and EU Green Agenda

The upstart populist pro-farmer party FarmerCitizenMovement (BBB) shook the foundations of politics in the Netherlands overnight, securing a significant victory in Wednesday’s provincial elections on the back of growing resentment against the globalist government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his plans to introduce Great Reset-style environmental policies.

“People, what the fuck happened?” exclaimed the frank-talking, half-Irish leader of the BBB, Caroline van der Plas in a victory speech on Wednesday evening as her party, which was formed just three years ago, saw the most gains of any party in the elections that will determine the makeup of the Dutch senate.

The BoerBurgerBeweging (FarmerCitizenMovement) dominated voting in rural areas of the country largely as a result of anger towards the government’s plans to impose EU-driven regulations on farming, particularly the use of nitrogen fertilisers, which many farmers have warned will put them out of business.

At the time of this reporting, BBB is expected to pick up an astonishing 16 seats in the 75-seat Senate, after previously holding zero. With 94 per cent of the vote counted, turnout is projected to have been around  57.5 per cent, the highest since the 1980s.

Commenting on the shock results, the chairman of the Agriculture and Horticultural Organization Netherlands (LTO), Sjaak van der Tak said that it was “an important profit for our farmers and the vital countryside,” adding: “Voters gave the cabinet and therefore the coalition a huge blow and that requires a real change of course with finding support for the big plans, such as nitrogen.”

Meanwhile, the leader of the CDA party — a member of the current governing coalition, Wopke Hoekstra said: “The Hague, including us, has insufficiently understood what is going on in our country. There’s a huge gap, we all have to care.”

The driving factor for the groundswell of support for the pro-farming party was opposition to the government’s plans to implement mandated cuts on the use of nitrogen fertilisers by as much as 70 per cent in some areas of the country by the end of the decade, with 92 per cent of BBB voters citing the policy as a motivating factor for their vote.

The elections, which also will determine the makeup of the provincial governments, could see the BBB take power in the very regions that the government is trying to impose its green agenda, potentially spelling more problems for the globalist governing coalition, which saw its total number of seats fall from 32 to 24. This puts the government’s ability to pass legislation in jeopardy, given that 38 votes are required in the senate to pass bills.

Polls found that over three-quarters of BBB voters believe that provincial governments should have the power to enact distinct policies from the national government, compared to 58 per cent among all voters.

The stunning loss for Rutte, who is the country’s longest-serving prime minister, may even throw his ability to retain power into doubt, with questions already being raised in Dutch media if he will step down and the possibility of Caroline van der Plas becoming the next prime minister. Prime Minister Rutte only has the confidence of less than a quarter has the confidence of less than a quarter of BBB voters, while enjoying just over a third of the confidence of the voting public as a whole.

Van der Plas, herself, questioned Rutte’s continued rule, asking: “How can you continue to govern if you have so little support?” While she said that she is not currently planning on making a move to become the next Dutch PM, she said she will think about it, coyly stating: “Yes, what if?”

Despite the trouncing in last night’s elections, the government’s minister for nature and nitrogen policy, Christianne van der Wal signaled on Thursday morning that the controversial nitrogen policy will continue to be on the agenda because the government believes it is mandated to push it through under EU law. 

In response, the BBB leader Van der Plas said that her comments were “complete bullshit” and that “everything can change, if you want.”

The imposition of the anti-farmer green agenda by the EU has also recently sparked political chaos in Belgium, the seat of power for the bloc, with the Flemish coalition government facing a potential breakdown over similar attempts to restrict nitrogen fertilisers in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.

Belgium also saw mass tractor protests last month in a similar vein to the farmer protest movement that sprung up last summer in The Netherlands, which saw farmers enacting blockades of key infrastructure as well as blocking highways with burning bales of hay and piles of tyres to demonstrate their frustration over the government’s attack on their industry and way of life.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka