Overview
- Provincial politicians and activists in Groningen are arranging buses to travel to The Hague to protest the possible siting of nuclear plants in the Eemshaven and the province has signalled it will facilitate the trip.
- The province has received about €833,000 from the national government for site preparation work, and those funds are likely to be used to cover protest and mobilisation costs.
- An Ipsos I&O poll commissioned by the ministry found more than eight in ten Groningers are worried about two nuclear plants in the Eemshaven, and the location had the lowest local support of the sites studied.
- The debate is now politically tense because D66 MPs have publicly opposed a plant in the Eemshaven, putting them at odds with their minister and raising pressure ahead of the 2 July Tweede Kamer debate and the minister’s final site decision later this year.
- Longstanding local concerns about safety, proximity to the Waddenzee and a sense of unfair burden after Groningen’s gas extraction history drive resistance and shape arguments over whether the provincial funds should pay for mobilisation, legal work or other preparations.