Update – Chairman Erwin Wunnekink of the LTO Dairy Farming department calls on the BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB) to no longer oppose the suspension of the derogation decision in 2026. According to Wunnekink, the intervening time should be used to make plans and argue for a transitional arrangement.
The department chairman was a guest on the radio program WNL Haagse Lobby on Monday evening, in which he looked back on last Thursday’s manure debate with Iris Bouwers (CDA) and Laura Bromet (GL-PvdA).
In the broadcast, Wunnekink pleads for certainty. ‘We want to have an overview of the next two years and to be certain that individual entrepreneurs will not be left in a bind. That they don’t have to make the choice whether they should commit fraud or go bankrupt because they have to hand in their cows.’
‘Until then, we say: get as close as possible to that derogation decision. Try to deliver on the points stated therein’, says Wunnekink. According to the LTO director, the current 7th Nitrate Directive action program does not offer much scope in the short term. He sees more opportunities in adjustments to the 8th Nitrate Directive program. ‘Fight for adjustments based on scientific substantiation. A BBB minister can deliver there.’ Wunnekink hopes that Brussels will be persuaded to make a transitional arrangement towards the 8th action programme.
Next year, when the reduction of the derogation is at its maximum, the problems that many companies are already experiencing will increase even further, the department chairman predicts. If dairy farmers decide to spread manure illegally, there is a good chance that they will be exposed when the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority comes along. ‘Then you’ll have to pay a hundred thousand euros in fines and you’ll be gone with your company as well.’
Tags: Wunnekinks appeal BBB fight suspension derogation decision
