Delta Commissioner’s Weblog - week 21, 2010
Widespread support for the Delta Programme
In the week after the May holidays we were hard at work again, paving the way for the first Delta Programme.
The draft texts of the Delta Programme were assessed in the May holidays to be sent to the civil service staff of the ministries and the representatives of the Association of Water Boards, Association of Netherlands Municipalities and the IPO (Association of Provincial Authorities). This group, together with the programme directors and my staff, met in the morning on Thursday 20 May to discuss the draft of the 70 percent version of the Delta Programme text. It was a very fruitful meeting. There was a high degree of involvement in our ‘assignment’, from the Ministries of Finance, Economic Affairs and The Interior and Kingdom Affairs as well.
Within a few hours we had together achieved clarity regarding the essential points. We set down the key message of the Delta Programme more clearly, we clarified the role and position of the Delta Commissioner – particularly for ongoing projects and programmes within the Delta Programme. We provided a better explanation of what exactly the first Delta Programme involves as well as what the annual cycle means. And we will indicate that the second Delta Programme (2012) will comprise a further and concrete elaboration of two issues: the 'logistics' of the Delta decisions in 2014 and the adaptive strategy that needs to link short and long-term activities.
In addition, the Delta Commissioner will place several items on the agenda of the first Delta Programme to which the Cabinet will respond. It was thus a very productive morning and in keeping with the innovative working method of the Delta Programme and the Delta Commissioner’s Staff. We have take another step along the path to the (inter-administrative) Delta Programme Steering Group meeting (3 June) and the meeting of the Committee on a Sustainable Living Environment (1 June). The 90 percent version of the Delta Programme will then be available and will be sent to the National Administrative Organisation on 23 June and to the Committee on a Sustainable Living Environment (2nd round) on 22 June, preliminary to the Council of Ministers meeting on 9 July. In the mean time, the content and direction to be taken will be further coordinated and discussed with Minister Camiel Eurlings and the other Ministers. By then, the Lower House elections will be finished and we will thus know more about the prevailing political climate. A climate in which the Delta Programme will fit in well. Working on the present and tomorrow for a safe and attractive Netherlands. It’s what everyone wants!
This week I also had a very good meeting with Bernhard Wientjes, Chair of the employers’ organisation VNO/NCW. He gives his full support to our work. I will clearly set down the economic factor because this Delta Programme is of great significance for the short and long-term economic development of the Netherlands. The support of this important representative body is a very good thing!
This week I will be making a two-day working visit to the IJsselmeer region. I am looking forward to it. But more about that later.