© BELGA
The Flemish core cabinet will only meet if there is a prospect of a relatively quick agreement. No one wants an endless negotiating night anymore. That can be heard on Saturday afternoon at the Martelaarsplein. In the course of the afternoon Prime Minister Jan Jambon will continue his bilateral contacts.
gjsSource: BELGA
Eleven of the thirteen bottlenecks in the file have now been resolved, including the red list of companies that must close. What remains are the two hardest hitters: the unequal treatment of agriculture and industry and the so-called net metering. If there are three farms near a nature reserve and one of them closes, the emission margin of that company should be able to transfer to the remaining two, CD&V believes.
According to N-VA chairman Bart De Wever, it must be possible to allow agriculture and industry to move towards each other in a way that all parties can agree with. “It can certainly grow together as that nitrogen problem is solved,” he added on Saturday Radio 1.
De Wever does not want to pin himself down to a deadline, but according to him, prolonging the debate would not add anything. “It’s never going to get better and there are no elements that can be added to the file,” he said. “The most difficult bottlenecks remain. We are now in the high mountains of the ‘tour de nitrogen’ and we have to reach the finish. If you drag that along next week, I don’t know what could be better.”
CD&V does not want to respond substantively to the interview with De Wever. “It is necessary to reach a good agreement,” chairman Sammy Mahdi added VRT news. “I am also convinced that everyone wants to find a solution. We must provide a solution and legal certainty. That is what the farmers also asked yesterday. It can happen very quickly, but it will depend on the statesmanship everyone shows to get across that bridge.”