Most Dutch provinces are set to miss their target for wind energy by the end of next year as a result of legal delays and resistance by political parties. The transition to renewable energy is one of the issues dominating the campaign for next week's provincial assembles, as planning and power generation falls within their remit. All 12 provinces signed an agreement in 2013 to build enough wind turbines to generate 6,000 megawatts of electricity by 2020. The Volkskrant reported that Noord-Brabant and Zuid-Holland would definitely miss their targets, while Utrecht, Limburg, Drenthe and Friesland also risk falling short. Any province that fails to achieve its target will have to make up double the amount of the shortfall in the following three years, either from wind power or other renewable sources. However, the issue has also generated fierce resistance from parties that dispute the need to tackle climate change. According to a survey by NOS 55% of parties contesting the provincial elections are against building more wind turbines on land. The most vociferous opponents are the far-right populist parties PVV and Forum voor Democratie, whose leaders Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet have been openly hostile to climate science. The parties' manifestos explicitly rule out any further development of wind or solar energy. Denk is also opposed to building more wind farms on land, while around half of the VVD's provincial groups and most 50Plus factions are also against turbines. Even GroenLinks calls for restrictions in some provinces such as Gelderland, where it says wind farms should be located away from residential areas. At the other end of the spectrum is the Animal Rights Party (PvdD), which has embraced a 'deep green' programme in recent years and has called for every province to be climate neutral by 2030. 'Radicalisation' warning In some rural provinces the campaign against wind power has led to heated exchanges. The National Co-ordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Security has warned of a risk of radicalisation and extremism following a series of incidents of threats, vandalism and intimidation. Anonymous posters in Drenthe depicted local ChristenUnie assembly member Tjisse Stelpstra as a Nazi concentration camp guard after he led calls for the province to switch from oil and gas to renewable sources. 'We can't keep saying no if we want to stop gas extraction and shut the coal-fired power stations. We need to keep talking to each other about how and where,' he said. Plans for more wind power have also been held up by legal challenges. Jan Nieboer, whose tax advice bureau in the Veen colonies in the north of the province, has become the centre of a campaign to take what he calls 'feudal wind farmers' in the administrative courts. He claims a law passed in The Hague that allows the government to co-ordinate national crisis prevention plans has allowed central government to steamroller the interests of people living in rural areas. 'The provincial authorities have bent over backwards,' Nieboer told De Volkskrant. 'I am warning that there will be consequences if the turbines are built,' he added. 'We will have a war in the Veen colonies until the last windmill has been flattened. I'm not playing with fire, but the wind farmers and the province are.' Although the Council of State has dismissed the bulk of objections to windfarm projects, the time spent handling them has hampered provincial authorities' efforts to hit their deadlines and led to complaints that they are being unfairly punished. In Friesland the provincial council only secured permission to build a wind farm in the IJsselmeer last year and argues it should not be made to pay for are 'beyond the influence of the province'. It has stated it 'will not agree with any doubling of the portion of our contribution that we have not achieved.'  More >

A newly elected councillor has given up his seat for a younger female colleague because he was concerned about the council chamber being dominated by men. Jan de Ridder, 74, put himself forward as a candidate for the CDA in Noordwijk, two years after resigning as party group leader. He received 278 votes in last Wednesday's election to secure a seat on the council, but said he would be handing it over to 34-year-old Natalie Baarnhoorn. De Ridder told Omroep West he had decided not to take up his place because it would have meant the party was represented by five men. He spent the week discussing the dilemma with his wife and party colleagues. 'I deliberately voted for a female CDA candidate in the council elections because I believe women should be given a chance,' he said on the day of the vote.'The problem is that if I accept the seat on the council, I am taking the place of a young female colleague.' De Ridder said he had been reluctant to be listed as a candidate, but agreed out of loyalty to his party. 'I said yes, provided I was given a low place on the list. I also told lots of my family and acquaintances: don't vote for me, vote for another CDA candidate.'  More >

In both Rotterdam and The Hague, where populist parties topped the results in last month's local elections, local leaders are pinning their hopes on broad coalitions to form new city administrations. In Amsterdam and Utrecht, the left-wing greens have the upper hand while Eindhoven is split along clear left-right lines. Here's a summary of the coalition negotiations in the five big cities so far. Rotterdam In Rotterdam, populist party Leefbaar Rotterdam, wants to set up a 'broad coalition' including the VVD, D66, GroenLinks and Labour. Such an alliance would control 31 of the 45 seats on the city council and would 'do justice' to the election results, according to Leefbaar leader Joost Eerdemans. However, the Labour party has already said it will not join an alliance involving Leefbaar, partly because of its links with Thierry Baudet's Forum for Democracy. D66 has also said the link between Leefbaar and FvD makes it tricky to work together. FvD supported Leefbaar during the election campaign. D66, the CDA and Leefbaar form the outgoing Rotterdam coalition. The Hague In The Hague, the surprise win by populist Groep de Mos, founded by former PVV parliamentarian Richard de Mos has muddied the waters considerably. De Mos has appointed Hans Wiegel, a VVD stalwart, to try to put a coalition together and Wiegel has also said he will go for a broad alliance involving De Mos, the VVD, D66 and GroenLinks. GroenLinks has already said such an alliance is unlikely because of the right-wing bias. The Hague's current coalition is a five party group made up of D66, PvdA, Haagse Stadspartij, VVD and CDA. Amsterdam Amsterdam’s GroenLinks leader Rutger Groot Wassink is pinning his hopes on a coalition with D66, Labour and the Socialists. While GroenLinks was the big winner in last Wednesday’s vote, the other three parties all lost a considerable number of seats. Nevertheless, Groot Wassink told the paper he did not consider this to be a problem. ‘A vote for a party which lost is as valuable as one for a party that won,’ he said. The pro-animal PvdD, which like the Socialists has three seats on the city council, is not invited for the formation talks because of differences about tackling inequality, Groot Wassink said. Amsterdam has been ruled by a coalition of the VVD, D66 and the SP for the past four years. Utrecht Like Amsterdam, GroenLinks overtook D66 to become the biggest party and has also called for an alliance with D66, Labour and the SP. While Labour and the SP have already said they are happy to join such a coalition, local D66 leader Klaas Verschuure had said he favours the VVD ahead of Labour and the SP. Utrecht is currently run by a four party coalition: D66, GroenLinks, VVD and SP. Eindhoven In Eindhoven the VVD and GroenLinks both emerged from the vote with the same number of seats and both have appointed their own coalition negotiators. But the VVD has already said it is prepared to work with the left-wing greens, possibly in combination with D66 or the Christian Democrats. Eindhoven's current administration is a combination of the PvdA, D66, SP and GroenLinks.  More >