Overview
- The cabinet presented a national stikstof package on Friday that combines buffer zones of roughly 0.5–1 km around protected Natura 2000 sites, sector emission ceilings and limits on animal density to allow stalled permits to move again.
- Provinces will draw the exact zone boundaries and apply stricter rules inside them, with Noord‑Holland already planning a mix of 500‑metre and 1‑kilometre zones and funding to help affected areas.
- The government intends to send fast‑track legislation to parliament in October to change calculation methods and legal rules so projects and PAS‑affected permit holders can progress sooner.
- On the same day the KNMI issued its first code red for extreme heat, prompting mass cancellations, closed RDW testing centres, suspended CBR exams, reduced train services and municipal cooling sites for vulnerable people.
- Humanitarian and second‑order effects are immediate: the Red Cross called the situation in Ter Apel unacceptable after 50–60 asylum seekers waited outside in the heat and aid groups urged rapid shelter and cooling for those at risk.