European farmers fed up with climate policies shock political establishment
A young Dutch political party seeking to push back the government’s climate agenda scored a surprise victory on Wednesday as it won the most seats for a single party in the Dutch Senate.
Party leader Caroline van der Plas said, “It is not normal, but in fact it is! All who vote are ordinary citizens.” “But today people have shown that they cannot stay at home any longer. We will not be ignored any longer.”
The farmer-citizen movement party, known in Dutch as BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), built its victory on opposition to the government’s environmental policies, which aimed to dramatically cut livestock numbers and save thousands of farms. Reduce nitrogen emissions by purchasing Nitrate and ammonia pollution significantly affects biodiversity, especially air and water quality.
With around 20% of the vote, according to the BBC, the party appears on course to take 15 of the 75 Senate seats – more seats than Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s conservative VVD party. Rutte built his victory on the strength of a coalition of four parties, which would now control 24 seats in total.
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BBB leader Caroline van der Plas speaks following the results of an election evening event after voting in the provincial council elections in the Netherlands on March 15, 2023. (Sem van der Waal / ANP / AFP via Getty Images)
“Now is the time to take citizens seriously. I am ready for dialogue with everyone. We are ready,” he said.
About 57.5% of voters turned out for the election, the highest turnout in years.
Voters argue that the government’s approach does not support farmers, and that the government’s plan is “not good” for them.
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Farmers gather with their vehicles next to the Netherlands/Germany border sign on the A1 highway near Rijssen on June 29, 2022 during a protest against the Dutch government’s nitrogen plans. (Photo by Vincent Janinck / ANP / AFP via Getty Images)
However, the other big winner on the night was the Greens and centre-left Labor Party coalition, an environment-focused group which argued that climate problems would not just go away. The Left-leaning alliance also won 15 seats, tying the BBB.
The results primarily indicate that Rutte’s remaining time in office may prove difficult as he faces the challenge of advancing any legislation that requires Senate support.
A farmers’ demonstration slows down on a motorway near Venlo, the Netherlands, Monday, July 4, 2022. Dutch farmers angered by government plans to reduce emissions used tractors and trucks on Monday to block supermarket distribution centers, the latest action in a summer of discontent in the country’s profitable agricultural sector. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Rutte congratulated the BBB, saying that party leader van der Plas “looked like a big winner tonight”, but insisted that his coalition remained majority power in the Senate.
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Party leader Caroline van der Plas of the BoerburgerBeijing to attend the weekly question hour and vote at the House of Representatives in The Hague, 28 June 2022. (Lex van Lieshout/ANP/AFP Photo via Getty Images)
In a comment to The Associated Press, Rutte downplayed the impact of the BBB victory on immediate action in government.
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“I really think this is an election for the provinces and the water authorities,” Rutte said. “And certainly for the Senate as well, so in that sense, there is some national policy in this as well, but I would be careful about drawing too big conclusions from a result like this.”
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
