The Netherlands is making a last-ditch effort to persuade the European Commission not to force it to flood a piece of reclaimed land in Zeeland.

Flooding the Hedwige polder was part of an agreement signed between the Netherlands and Belgium in 2008 for the deepening of the Westerschelde estuary to allow larger ships into Antwerp port.
However, the Dutch government faced fierce opposition from the Zeelanders, and after the June 2010 election, the new cabinet said the flooding would not go ahead. Farm minister Henk Bleker came up with two alternative sites but neither Belgium, the European Commission or bird protection groups accept the revised plan.
On Thursday Europe’s environment minister Janez Potocnik and Bleker had an initial meeting to discuss the issue.
‘We are going into the last phase of an intense discussion,’ Bleker told reporters after the talks. ‘We are putting everything we can into finding a solution.’