Our joint response to the province's Coalition Agreement.

Coalition agreement province of Utrecht: DWARS Utrecht and JS Utrecht reacts

Dear DWARSe and Young Socialist Utrechters,

On Wednesday 5 July, the groups GroenLinks, VVD, D66, CDA and PvdA presented a coalition agreement for the province of Utrecht. DWARS and JS Utrecht are happy with the coalition agreement, and we hope to see the plans and visions in the near future. On the other hand, we as DWARS and JS Utrecht also want to make certain comments on the agreement, which could have been even more social and inclusive. DWARS and JS Utrecht react together to the presented coalition agreement below, however, there is still discussion on some points. We are happy to discuss these on the evening we will present this response.

According to DWARS and JS Utrecht, the strong points of this coalition agreement are:

• Money will be freed up to accelerate housing construction within the city of Utrecht. This shows that the coalition wants to actively work on the housing shortage in the province of Utrecht where many people are suffering, including very many young people in Utrecht. We are also happy to see that a green living environment is central to new neighbourhoods.
• The lead that the province will take in placing wind turbines when municipalities do not. This shows that this coalition takes the climate problem and thus the future of young people in the province of Utrecht seriously. It is also good to see that the ambitious climate goals of the previous coalition are being continued with the goal of a climate-neutral energy supply in 2040, ten years earlier than the national government.
• The JS and DWARS Utrecht are excited that there is a social agenda within the coalition agreement. Striving for a province where everyone, whoever you are or whatever you stand for, is treated equally is a beautiful but also a difficult goal. The JS and DWARS Utrecht say: make it happen. Removing barriers to physical, social and digital accessibility, tackling low literacy, implementing the Top Income Standardisation Act and fighting discrimination and racism are therefore strong points within the coalition agreement to achieve that goal, according to the JS and DWARS Utrecht. However, JS and DWARS Utrecht believe that the coalition agreement could pay more attention to diversity and inclusiveness.
• The aim to have emission-free public transport by 2030, the focus on mobility transition and partial mobility in the province of Utrecht. This aspiration is in line with addressing climate issues and accessible, sustainable mobility that DWARS and JS Utrecht support.
• DWARS and JS Utrecht welcome the 3,000 extra hectares of nature, the 700,000 new trees to be planted in the province and the repair of habitat for endangered meadow birds.
• We are happy to see that refugees will remain welcome in the province, and that sufficient reception sites will be built. According to DWARS and JS Utrecht, there should always be good facilities for refugees in the province.
• A fully-fledged alternative to widening the A27 near Amelisweerd. Ideally, DWARS and JS Utrecht would like the alternative to consist exclusively of improving public transport and cycling routes.

According to DWARS and JS Utrecht, the weak points of this coalition agreement are:

• The choice to terminate or relocate farmers still remains voluntary, and at the halfway point of the coalition period there will be an assessment moment on how the situation stands in the area processes. Voluntary termination or relocation will happen in the coming period, but DWARS and JS Utrecht would have liked to see that forced buyouts would at least become an option if the nitrogen targets are not met in the first two years. It must be said that forced buyout is not an outcome we would like to see. We would very much like to support farmers by offering financial help to farmers to make their work greener, or an option that would make any buy-out of farmers more attractive.
• We regret the plan that in total only a minimum of two-thirds of the new homes should be affordable. Does this mean that the coalition accepts that a third of new homes may be unaffordable? As in the whole of the Netherlands, the bottleneck of the Utrecht housing market is affordable housing. We clearly do not have a shortage of villas in the province of Utrecht. It is therefore only logical that every effort should be made to provide as much affordable housing as possible. We would like to see housing affordable not only for two-income earners with substantial start-up capital, but also for small households with lower incomes to have a realistic prospect of buying a home in Utrecht province.
• JS and DWARS Utrecht regret that the word ‘subsistence security’ does not appear in the coalition agreement. The word ‘poverty’ appears a total of four times, but incorporated in the words ‘energy poverty’ and ‘transport poverty’. We understand that the province has a somewhat limited role in directly combating poverty and promoting livelihood security, but we would still have liked it to at least be mentioned now that poverty in the country is rising so violently and the livelihood security of many is at stake.
• The province's ambition is to make only 30% of the new homes social rented. DWARS and JS Utrecht would have preferred a higher target here. Especially given the house prices in the province of Utrecht (especially in the cities), it is essential that ample social rented housing is offered to people with lower incomes.

Regarding the composition and portfolio distribution, DWARS and JS Utrecht are of the opinion that it is unfortunate that the ChristenUnie is not involved in this college given the good cooperation with them in the previous college, even though this was not due to the GroenLinks/PvdA province of Utrecht groups. It is also unfortunate to see the CU's ‘mobility’ portfolio going to the VVD and ‘climate’ leaving GroenLinks. However, the ‘climate’ portfolio is going to D66, we do not regret that unlike the fact that ‘mobility’ is going to the VVD. JS and DWARS Utrecht find it very unfortunate that ‘mobility’ goes to the VVD because we think the VVD's opinion is very bad. Furthermore, it is good to see that ‘environment’ goes to GroenLinks. We are also pleased that ‘water and soil’ goes to D66 instead of the CDA.

Glossary:

Fractions: A group of people who think about politics in roughly the same way and sit together in a city council, for example.

Provincial Council: The municipal council of the province.

Coalition agreement: An agreement between several groups to work together, the agreement should say how the groups will govern in the coming years. The collaboration between political groups is also known as a ‘coalition’.

More inclusive: More focus on people who now often feel excluded.

Housing shortage: Shortage of houses.

Ambitious: Trying to achieve hard-to-achieve goals.

Climate neutral: No bad effect on climate but no good effect either.

Energy supply: how we make electricity or other forms of energy, e.g. wind turbines or coal-fired power plants.

Strive: Wanting something, for example, GroenLinks strives for a fairer society. This means that GroenLinks wants a fairer society.

Mobility: How to get from one place to another.

Emission-free: Without releasing any bad substances.

Mobility transition: change from travelling a lot by car to travelling more by bus or train.

Share mobility: not just going somewhere by car but, for example, taking the car to the train station and then going somewhere else by train.

Accessible: Accessible to all.

Habitat: The place where a species lives.

Meadow birds: Birds that lay eggs in the grass.

Termination: Closure, in this response, means that farmers will have to quit or can continue with their farms somewhere else.

Coalition period: The time where political groups work together. After this come elections again or sometimes a new coalition.

Area process: a process in which governments, businesses and citizens look at, for example, how much maximum nitrogen can be released so that nature can remain beautiful.

Buyout: A company can be bought out by a person, company or government so that it belongs to that person, company or government.

Nitrogen targets: We want to release less nitrogen, for that we have set targets, they are the nitrogen targets.

Housing ambitions: Goals we have to build more houses.

Soil subsidence: If the ground subsides a little, this causes problems if there is a house where soil subsidence happens. It also allows water to enter a house faster in case of flooding.

Energy generation: Where energy is made, think windmills.

Support: help by agreeing with something, in this case help by saying they want to build houses in the Rijnenburg polder.

Social rent: Affordable rent for people who do not have a lot of money.

Diversity: Many differences for example, 4 pieces of different fruits is a diverse group of fruits. In this case, it is about people.

Accessibility: How many different kinds of people can enter, if you have a disability this can sometimes be more difficult. If attention is paid to it, it can ensure that more people can be there, then it is more accessible.

Composition: Which parties work together.

Portfolio division: How tasks are divided between the province's administrators. A portfolio is group a tasks with a theme for example, the portfolio ‘finance’ watches over the province's money.

College: The group of people who will run the province. Also called the College of Deputies.

Want to know more about the coalition agreement or our reaction to it? Tomorrow (28-09) we will have content evening with speakers. See this page for more information.