The Flemish Parliament approved a number of relaxations to the manure legislation on Wednesday. The majority parties had urgently submitted a decree that implements a number of agreements from last month’s agricultural agreement.
As a result of the farmers’ protest, the Flemish government concluded an agreement with the agricultural organizations in February. This included a number of new rules regarding manure processing.
From now on, late submission of the manure declaration will be dealt with more flexibly. If farmers commit a violation, they will from now on also be heard before measures are imposed. Minor administrative violations will no longer be fined immediately, but the offender will first receive a warning. Finally, mitigating circumstances are also introduced that lead to lower fines.
The left-wing opposition parties did not appreciate on Wednesday that the decree was submitted urgently, even though the agreement is already a month and a half old. “This is unheard of,” said Mieke Schauvliege of Groen. “We are having an adjustment to the manure policy shoved down our throats here. This is legal clutter. I would like to point out that an evaluation has just shown that water quality is once again deteriorating instead of improving. The answer you offer is to relax the rules, so that we get even worse quality.”
“I have major questions about the legal robustness of this decree,” said Jos D’Haese of PVDA. Together with the other left-wing opposition parties, he requested advice from the Council of State, but the required third of the votes was not found.
Stefaan Sintobin of Vlaams Belang agreed with the content of the decree, but also had questions about the course of events. “I think it is better if a text follows normal parliamentary procedure,” he said.
Farmers’ Union satisfied
Farmers’ Union chairman Lode Ceyssens describes the relaxations as “a first series of measures that farmers will immediately feel”. “In this way, farmers are freed from unreasonably high fines and for certain omissions they will first receive a warning in the future, but now they will immediately receive a fine,” says Ceyssens. “With these adjustments, farmers can once again focus on the field,” adds Maarten Moermans, vice-chairman of Groene Kring.
At the same time, however, Boerenbond states that there is still a lot of work to be done. “Preparations must start for a transition to an emission reduction model for the nitrogen problem. Additional measures are needed to better protect agricultural land. And the administrative simplification working group will now also have to come up with concrete legislative proposals,” says Ceyssens.
In addition, the Boerenbond also needs to speed up “the other adjustments to administrative obligations and unattainable dates in the manure decree that have also been agreed in the package of measures”.
Finally, the agricultural organization also closely monitors developments at the federal and European level.
READ ALSO. ON MAP. The number of agricultural companies in Flanders is declining: “Who dares to invest if you have no prospects?”(+)
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Tags: Flemish Parliament approves emergency decree relaxing fertilizer legislation opposition rears Legal clutter including Domestic
