Follow the Money, NRC, and Omroep Gelderland are initiating summary proceedings against outgoing Minister of Agriculture Femke Wiersma. The media companies are demanding that Wiersma release emissions data from agricultural companies, as previously ordered by the court. Wiersma refuses to comply with that ruling.
Journalists from NRC , Follow the Money , and Omroep Gelderland requested data on substances emitted by Dutch agricultural companies, such as nitrogen and ammonia, via the Government Information (Public Access) Act (Woo) at the end of 2022. The data also contains information on the number of animals per farm and the locations Or stables. This data is needed to investigate the effectiveness of the nitrogen policy.
Initially, The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and Former Minister Piet Adema Agreed to Release This Data. However, Wiersma Reversed That Decision. The Overijssel Court Ruled that Wiersma ABUUSED Her Powers to Delay the Disclosure of the Data.
Accordance to Wiersma, the Privacy of Farmers and Their families is at risk because the location data or stables could attract activists. Shey to restart the woo procedure, information all 60,000 live -stock Farmers – Including hobby farmers – Individually. This could cause months of delay and cost millions of euros. The Media Organizations Involved Consider Wiersma’s Actions UNLAWFUL and NOT in the Public Interest.
“The non-publication of the requested information is Unlawful; Accordance to the Judge, It is ‘Abuse of Power’,” Say Edice-in-Chief Patricia Veldhuis ( NRC ), Sandrina Hadderingh ( Omroep Gelderland ), and Harry Lensink ( Follow the Money ). “It is our job to inform the public coply. The Woo is an important tool in this.”
Journalistic Organizations: Minister Undermines The Principle of Public Access of the Woo
Minister Wiersma Has Announced That She Will Appeal. With the Summary Proceedings, The Media Companies Still Want to Enforce That The Data Be Made Public.
The Press Freedom Fund, journalist Union NVJ and the Society of editor -in -chief Support the Summary Proceedings. They state that the minister’s actions undermine the principle of public access of the woo, which poses a threat to democracy and hindrance journalism in its monitoring and information task.