AP News BY AP NEWS
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch agriculture minister has unexpectedly resigned, telling reporters he wasn’t the right person for the job following a tumultuous summer of protests by farmers over pollution regulations.
Henk Staghouwer, who held the position for only nine months, announced his decision Monday night. He had just returned from Brussels, where he negotiated an agreement with the European Commission to scrap a Dutch exemption to manure spreading limits.
The Netherlands, along with Denmark, Ireland and the Flanders region of Belgium, had been allowed to exceed caps on how much manure farmers could return to their fields because of the country’s comparatively small land area. But Brussels wants to phase out this dispensation because the Dutch are failing to meet EU water quality standards.
