State of the Region 2021: speech Femke Halsema
380 years ago, hydraulic engineer Leeghwater argued for the reclamation of the Haarlemmermeer. 'The water wolf', he wrote, would eat the 'Dutch land lion' from within. Villages would be engulfed by the water and food supplies would be endangered. He was right, but it was technically difficult and the Amsterdammers, who were once again stubborn, earned money from shipping on the lake. The viscous Dutch governance structure did not help either. As a result, it took two centuries for our region to gain 18,000 hectares of agricultural land.