Bronze on the nitrogen dossier: Two-thirds of farms on the Red List want to stop voluntarily, so there is a solution for it already | internal

In February last year, the Flemish government reached an agreement on how to tackle the nitrogen problem. For agriculture, the deal meant, among other things, that 41 “red” companies that emit particularly large amounts of nitrogen – the so-called peak lifters – must shut down by 2025.

In the first edition in 2014, that list called “peak loaders” still consisted of 135 companies. After criticism, that list was reduced to 58 companies in 2015, leaving 41 companies in the Flemish government’s recent leadership agreement. On Sunday, Minister Bruns spoke about the 2015 list of 58 companies. Many of them have already joined the buy-out arrangements.

The CD&V minister confirmed on Sunday that 35 of those 50-plus companies had already chosen to stop voluntarily. “In terms of other companies, we should mainly look at whether they have made efforts to reduce nitrogen emissions since 2015,” the minister said. “How well they do that is also up to them. As far as I’m concerned, this list could get shorter.”

The Flemish Land Agency (VLM) confirmed on Sunday that “35 companies out of a total of 58 included in the draft PAS note have submitted an application for the accompanying policy.” It said 13 of those 35 companies filed after the nitrogen agreement in February 2022.

On Sunday, Minister Bruns stressed the need to reach an agreement on the nitrogen file “as soon as possible.” And it was like, “As the farmers say, we must not wait another minute.”

20,000 objections were filed against the draft nitrogen agreement. Said to be taken seriously. “We will now understand all of these in order to arrive at a robust licensing framework that will continue into the future,” said Minister Bruns, who added that this began this week.

Bruns largely avoided asking questions about his political opponent Zuhel Demir (N-VA), the Flemish Minister of the Environment. “I do not deny the existence of differences between me and colleague Demir,” he said. “Every bird sings as it is beaked,” said the minister, “but I think it is important now to cross over differences and make agreements.”

a look. Minister Bruns on Demir: “Every bird sings the way it is called”