Climate policy does not create a significant divide between these three parties. There are differences in emphasis.

Timmermans clearly wants to combine climate policy and social policy. “Millions of people can’t take part now, they have to. So my first action is to make the social rental sector more sustainable: solar panels, insulation, heat pumps where possible. Then you can also help people with their pockets.

Umtzigt believes this is “a very good measure,” he says. “Because in recent years the measures have mainly affected the upper half of the Netherlands. Solar panels, electric cars. We will have to make sure that the bottom line and small businesses can sustain it.”

Yeselgoz also thinks it all seems “very reasonable.” It reiterates its call to make sustainability a national revenue model. Climate is a challenge the world faces, and the Netherlands can provide that solution. We must pursue green industrial policies. We have to ensure that the industry stays here and those jobs stay here.

No one disagrees with her on that. There are also many similarities between it and the coalition agreement of the outgoing government. There is more friction in the debate over nitrogen, a topic on which the government that fell last July was deeply divided.

All three parties agree on one thing: the livestock herd will shrink in the coming years. Not as an end in itself, as all three say, but because nature is in bad shape and measures are necessary. Yesilgoz: “It’s about giving nature space to recover. It’s unfortunate that we came face to face with farmers. I want to stand by them.

The three see a bright future for livestock farming, provided it becomes more sustainable. Omtzigt essentially wants a new vision for the sector. “Look at the earning capacity of the farmers, at the care of the animals, stop at the new large stables anyway and take advantage of the many farmers who want to stop voluntarily. This way we can create space.

These are nice words, says Frans Timmermans. When asked, he said he feels more comfortable with Omtzigt on this topic than with Yesilgoz, although he is not yet completely convinced of the seriousness of the matter. “His program is very brief on this.”

Raoul du Pré