The cracks in Mark Rutte’s coalition widened this weekend as the cabinet put its plans to cut nitrogen compound emissions on hold under pressure from the Christian Democrats (CDA).

Prime minister Mark Rutte insisted, in a hastily convened press conference on Friday following two crisis meetings in a week, that the measure was an ‘acceleration’ of the plans, not a pause.

But he admitted that the CDA had demanded a rethink after seeing its voters defect en masse to the farmers’ party BBB in last month’s provincial elections.

Rutte said the negotiations would resume once the formation of provincial administrations, which will play a pivotal role in implementing measures such as the buyout of farmers, had been completed.

‘We need to speed up the reduction of nitrogen to ensure the farmers have a sense of perspective again, as well as for nature, road building and housing.

‘However, there are different views within the cabinet on our approach to nitrogen, to the extent that the CDA has said: we want to go back to the table and negotiate the nitrogen plans.’

‘Mind-boggling’

The move was widely seen as buying time for Rutte to reconcile the divisions in the four-party cabinet, with D66 determined to press ahead with the nitrogen reduction measures written into the coalition deal less than 18 months ago.

The decision is likely to dominate Tuesday’s debate in parliament on the outcome of the provincial elections. BBB leader Caroline van der Plas called for emergency laws to be passed to prevent the nitrogen strategy grinding to a halt, while at the opposite end of the spectrum, GroenLinks leader called Rutte’s statement ‘mind-boggling’.

‘This cabinet is only concerned with itself and incapable of offering solutions to the big problems of our time,’ Klaver said.

The CDA wants to abandon the target date of 2030 for reducing nitrogen compound emissions, a demand also made by farmers’ organisations who argue it should be extended to 2035 or even 2040.

‘I’ve called the election result a clip round the ear and an earthquake,’ CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra said. ‘We have to listen to it.’

2030 deadline

The BBB, which is the largest party in all 12 provinces, made scrapping the date of 2030 one of its main campaigning points during the election and is likely to make it a red line in the coalition negotiations.

But the government is under pressure both from opposition parties and the second-largest coalition party, D66. The party’s youth wing, Jonge Democraten, said on Twitter last weekend that ‘2030 must remain sacred’ – a reference to an interview Hoekstra gave last autumn in which he called for more flexibility.

Party leader Sigrid Kaag said she understood the position of the CDA, but gave little indication that D66 was prepared to budge. ‘If one party – in this case the CDA – wants to have a conversation about reopening the coalition agreement, that’s up to them,’ she said.

The European Commission has also weighed in, with environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius writing to Christianne van der Wal, the minister responsible for nitrogen policy, to tell her the government must stick to the 2030 deadline.

The requirement to cut nitrogen compound emissions stems from a judgment by the Council of State in 2019, which ruled that the government’s environmental permit regime for building projects breached European agreements to protect vulnerable natural areas.

Government advisers have said the only way to bring levels of nitrogen compounds such as nitrous oxide and ammonia back within legal limits is to cut the agriculture sector by buying out thousands of livestock farmers or ordering them to downsize. The BBB and farmers’ organisations are resolutely opposed to any kind of compulsory purchase scheme.