VVD MEP Groothuis speaks out against the government with the PVV during the party leader debate

Fierce debate over need for Green Deal: 'Livestock is already shrinking organically'

The loudest clash between the MEPs (candidates) during the election debate in the Newsport press center in The Hague was over the strength of the Green Deal. There is no need to target herd reductions, says BBB list leader Sander Smit: “The cattle herd is already shrinking organically” because of the “excessive Green Deal.” MEP Mohamed Sahem from the PvdA party asked him what law guarantees exactly that from the Green Deal package. “One name!” Smit mentions CAP, Common Agricultural Policy. Shaheem thinks it's too general. PVDD leader Ania Hazekamp, ​​the only woman in the debate, calls the two “rooster”.

But wouldn't it have been better for Frans Timmermans to stay in Brussels as European Commissioner to get his green deal across the finish line? This question will be asked to PvdA MEP Mohamed Shahim on Wednesday during the European elections debate at the Nieuwspoort press center in The Hague. No, Shahim believes Timmermans is in the right place: “We also need good administrators in the Netherlands who can build bridges.”

The Green Deal, the climate law package aimed at meeting European climate goals, has been weakened in recent months. But exposure to destruction is not a problem, says PvdA member Shahim. “There is a defect in it, and this defect was caused by the Netherlands.” He's talking about the failed Nature Restoration Act, which was postponed in March due to insufficient support for the law, partly due to Dutch protests. Shaheem is upset by the “stupidity of the decisions” that dilute the Green Agreement. For example, “under pressure from two tractors,” von der Leyen withdrew a draft law on the sustainable use of pesticides in February.

VVD MEP Groothuis speaks out against the government with the PVV during the party leader debate

Bart Groothus, a member of the European Parliament for the VVD, would have preferred to see the composition of the next Dutch coalition differently, as became clear on Wednesday during the election debate at the Newsport press center in The Hague.

Cooperation with Geert Wilders' party is not understood in his liberal group in the European Parliament. The leader of the VVD, Malik Azmani, was running to lead this faction, but had to give up the position because cooperation with the Party for Freedom was too controversial. Groothuis was asked: Would you prefer Azmani to be Liberal leader rather than a government with the Freedom Party? “Yes” is his answer.

Azmani himself has previously expressed understanding of a potential coalition in the Netherlands, but he does not see such cooperation in Europe: “You have to do justice to the election results in the national context. I do not see such cooperation in Europe.”

The Freedom Party is absent among the nine debated politicians, most of whom are party leaders. She was invited to that party, but she didn't come. The party will also cancel a debate scheduled for May 16, organized by the Dutch Provincial Council.

The debate comes at an odd time: it coincides with the deadline for formation talks in The Hague. This date was known in advance. Newsport, where the discussion is taking place, is located in the House of Representatives building, where the negotiations are taking place.

Half an hour before the discussion begins, the leaders of the negotiating party emerge from their conference room. Wilders delivers the news: there is a temporary negotiating agreement. The door he exits through was visible for hours on NOS's live broadcast. Forty or fifty journalists are ready to receive the statement from the leaders of the formed parties. Mohamed Shahim, a member of the European Parliament for the PvdA party, passes by the group on his way to the debate, downstairs.

NSC party leader Dirk Goettink has just emerged from the party room. He says the National Security Council is reading the interim agreement there. “I hope this discussion will take place during the reading period in the faction room.”

Read also: VVD party member Malik Azmani: “Cooperation with the far right in Europe is unthinkable”

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This blog will follow Norwegian Refugee Council Campaign for the European elections from 6 to 9 June. Read the previous blog here.