GroenLinks-PvdA party’s leader Netherlands’ Frans Timmermans gives a press conference during a campaign event of a candidate of the French Socialist Party (PS) and Place Publique party for the European parliament elections in Paris, on May 23, 2024.
Julien De Rosa / AFP
Former EU ‘climate pope’ Frans Timmermans is accused of “fairy tale” thinking, and not for the first time.
Dutch leftist coalition leader and former EU ‘climate pope’ Frans Timmermans has been roundly criticised over wishful plans to ‘solve’ the housing crisis by closing airports. What’s more, his GroenLinks-PvdA group says this measure offers just a “sneak peek” of its manifesto, raising fears about what could come next.
The party wants to shut down Rotterdam The Hague Airport and reduce operations at others, including Schiphol Airport, to create space for housing development and reduce noise pollution.
NieuwRechts editor Daniel de Liever warned that this would “pose significant risks to the Dutch economy and prosperity.” Writer Bauke Geersing added that “it is a gross scandal to sacrifice our economy to the green Marxism of Frans Timmermans.”
When will people’s eyes open to see the nonsense and ineffectiveness of these proposals? It is pure destruction of our country.
Marjan Rintel, CEO of major airline KLM, also stressed the importance of the airports to the country, calling them vital to the nation’s economy and warning that shutting them down would undermine the Netherlands’ international competitiveness:
Aviation and our current infrastructure are essential. If we lose them, they’re gone for good. Just look at the global competition—that’s what drives Dutch prosperity.
Aside from the economic damage, Rintel said, Timmermans’ proposal wouldn’t even solve the housing shortage, saying:
We need to focus on the real problems. So far, those are the permits and the nitrogen regulations.
KLM-CEO Marjan Rintel verzekert dat het bouwen van woonwijken op en rond vliegvelden, zoals GL-PvdA voorstelt in hun verkiezingsprogramma, de woningnood niet oplost. 'We moeten focussen op de echte problemen. Dat zijn tot nog toe de vergunningen en de stikstofregels.' #WNLpic.twitter.com/Lfk9aEaEeo
Dutch daily De Telegraaf also published a piece noting that the leftists behind these “fairy tale” measures “know this themselves, but their political and activist goals are more important than reality.”
The Dutch People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) agreed that in order to build more houses, officials must “scrap regulations,” and said it would instead opt to increase airport operations to help “deliver the economic growth we need now.”
Responding to criticism that closing airports will make it more difficult for ordinary Dutch people to travel abroad, Timmermans said: “There are alternatives sometimes an hour’s drive away if you want to go on vacation, for example.”
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
