Dutch Minister Calls for 'Travel Vouchers'

On breakfast TV, a 'new' plan of 'doing something™' about 'ze climate crisis' is mulled: if everything else fails, 'travel vouchers' might provide the right incentive to stock up on pitchforks

While legacy media, as well as a sizeable chunk of alternative media, too, is mesmerised by what goes on in the White House these days (not that all is bad, esp. the executive orders revoking DEI or calling for aesthetic public buildings once more), many other things are happening.

It seems to this author that the overwhelming attention showered on Mr. Trump is by design—to obscure many other things that are happening at the same time.

So, I shall forego the temptation to weigh in on Mr. Trump right now (I’ll delimit myself to noting that talk is cheap and that actions are more important that said talk) and bring you some of the other, under-reported stuff.

Like the below piece of news out of the Netherlands whose gov’t remains hell-bent on the UN-EU-WEF agenda of impoverishment of the masses in the name of the death cult by the name of ‘green new deal’.

The below piece comes to us via the inbuilt English version of the website where I found this piece, with emphases and [snark] added. Some edits for clarity were necessary as the website seems to use a crappy translation software.

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Minister pushes ‘personal carbon budget’: ‘You get some travel vouchers at the beginning of your life’

By Robin de Boer, Ninefornews.nl, 20 Jan. 2025 [source]

The National Citizens’ Climate Council [soviet] met for the first time on Saturday. The kick-off meeting was opened by Minister of Climate and Home Affairs Hermans Uitermark:

We need to make policies that are about people with the people. This is the first time that a national citizens’ council on climate is being held in the Netherlands. It offers the inhabitants of this country a unique opportunity to let us hear their opinions and ideas very directly. A citizens’ council also gives a good picture of how people think about this subject in the Netherlands, and helps to find broadly supported solutions.

[there is no need, apparently, to actually do anything ‘the people™’ actually say if you’re the gov’t—for otherwise the election winner would be prime minister, eh…]

The citizens’ council has 175 participants [note that the Dutch parliament has 150 representatives, which means that, technically, the citizens’ council could be more representative than parliament; now, if only we knew who and how these 175 climate councillors were selected…]. In September, it will advise the cabinet. Interesting detail: the members of the citizens’ council will first be ‘retrained’ on ‘climate change’ [according to the NL Times, these 175 members were ‘randomly selected citizens to discuss climate policy over the next six months’, which came together as follows: ‘An initial invitation to join the burgerberaad was sent to 70,000 people across the Netherlands. Of the 4,070 who responded, 175 participants were selected by lottery to ensure a representative sample of the population in terms of gender, age, location, and education.’—That sounds eminently reasonable, esp. as population data in the Netherlands is very well-suited for such an endeavour; now, if the advice would be binding, it might do one or the other thing, although the ‘retraining’ on presumably the ‘correct™’ way of seeing things might be a bit of a problem]

[click here for the source of this screenshot]

Remarkable

[Minister of Climate and Home Affairs Hermans] Uitermark mentioned a proposal from one of the participants in ‘Goedemorgen Nederland’ [a breakfast TV show]:

You get some travel vouchers at the beginning of your life.

Science journalist Marcel Crok responds: ‘Well, it is remarkable that this idea—travel should be rationed—was picked up by the minister.’

Shocking

‘They are not wasting any time with the National Citizens’ Council on Climate: before the participants have even had the chance to form any thoughts, a minister is already pushing the “personal carbon budget”’, notes doctor and lawyer Lucas Bergkamp.

He calls the reaction of the minister and the interviewers at ‘Goedemorgen Nederland’ ‘shocking’, adding: ‘They have lost their minds.’

Robin de Boer is an economic geographer. Follow him on Substack here.

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Bottom Lines

See what I mean? While everyone’s mesmerised by Elon Musk’s impersonation of ‘Dr. Strangelove’ or Mr. Trump dancing with a sword, Europe’s leading politicos™ are pushing hard for the continuation of their pipe dream.

With the US pulling out of the Paris Accords once more—after China and India having never really been into these notions in the first place—there’s zero chance these punishing measures will ‘save the planet™’ if the EU adheres to these plans alone. Yet, Ms. Von der Leyen insists on it.

So, what are the ideas behind the Dutch climate soviet? Here’s a few more lines from the NL Times:

The discussions focus on three key areas, said Nienke Meijer, chair of the burgerberaad: ‘How can we eat, travel, and use goods in the Netherlands in ways that are better for the climate?’ Participants include individuals with a wide range of perspectives, from those deeply concerned about climate change to those who are not worried at all.

The concept of a climate-focused citizen assembly originated during the tenure of the previous cabinet and Tweede Kamer [the Dutch parliament, the ‘second chamber of the states general’]. However, the current government adopted the plan, Meijer explained…

Once the recommendations are presented in September, they will be debated in the Tweede Kamer. ‘I truly hope that some of the advice will be implemented’, Meijer said.

So, fear not, the climate soviet’s recommendations aren’t legally binding.

Isn’t it amazing (strange) that literally, as soon as the soviet met for the first time, a gov’t minister speaks about ‘travel vouchers’?

This has to be either a gaffe or a minister giddy with excitement about the air cover the climate soviet will provide for introducing just such measures.

I’m somewhat torn on these ideas as ‘travel vouchers’ might become a very valuable black market ‘currency’ as well as an incentive to have more children…

Speaking of incentives, what is this climate soviet all about? Well,

Robin de Boer

provides some insights on his Substack (machine translation):

Netherlands Not on Track to Achieve SDGs [19 Jan. 2025]

Lower House member Ralf Dekker on Thursday had a conversation with the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV), which includes former GroenLinks MP Bram van Ojik. Chairman of this council is former PvdA minister Bert Koenders.

The council wrote an advisory letter in response to the fact that the Netherlands, and by extension the world, is not on track with the SDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals, also known as Great Reset goals…

‘It's extraordinary to see how these people live in their own world’, Dekker noted. ‘It's so incredibly other-worldly. Very high entertainment content’…

The Advisory Council on International Affairs calls for a prominent role for the prime minister to put the development goals at the centre of cabinet policy [hence the climate soviet].

Netherlands dangling somewhere at the back

‘The Netherlands must contribute more actively to the internationally agreed sustainable development goals. In a world that is failing, the Netherlands cannot succeed. Our country is now dangling somewhere in the back of Europe’, Koenders said.

Earlier, former Prime Minister Balkenende also said he is dissatisfied with the roll-out of the SDGs. The chairman of the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition told whistleblower Huig Plug: ‘We need to speed things up. I am a strong supporter of the SDGs, but the key question now is: are we on track? And we are not.’

So, the take-away would be: it’s a good thing that the UN-EU-WEF cabal’s plans are behind schedule; it’s a bad thing, though, that politicos™ will do whatever it takes—think: ‘travel vouchers’—to ‘speed things up’.

Will this scheme work?

Personally, I doubt it because all it takes are stronger election returns for anti-UN-EU-WEF parties in the next = last elections.

Moreover, bans are very un-Western, if only because that’s what ‘them enemies in under-developed’ places do. ‘We’ are so advanced etc. that our rationing will occur via Mr. Market™.

You see, when we relocated to Norway almost five years ago, four flights from Central Europe to Norway costs around US$1,200; the current airfares for July are around US$2,000, an increase of about 75%. Add to that the similarly rising cost-of-living plus carbon taxes and you’ll see how the ‘travel vouchers’ will be replaced by ‘Mr. Market™’ adjusting prices a tad more.

For a detailed look at the EU’s (scam) energy markets, see this:

Europe's Energy Follies Reveal the Dual Cartel Running the Area's 'Energy Market™'

Of course, these price hikes will be ‘splained by legacy media in the expectable manner:

Meet the Climate Inquisition, Courtesy of Legacy Media's 'Climate Journalism Network'

Not a lot of reality can be permitted in these debates lest the hoi polloi catches on to the greatest grift of all times.

Letting these crazies like Dutch minister Uitermark get away with these notions is highly dangerous, but then again, the main focus of the UN-EU-WEF cabal’s plans is to incite a reaction.

And thus the dialectic progresses.