Rediscovering Europe in the Netherlands - St Antony's College ...

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safeguards and direct citizen participation to compensate for any changing relationships between the executive branch and parliament that might occur as a result of Europeanisation. The Danish parliamentary mandate is a well-known example: The arrangements allow Danish ministers to co-operate in European decision making only after a mandate has been approved by the Danish Parliament (Van den Brink 2004). Other eu member states have established comparable – albeit generally less far-reaching – safeguards. Although the Netherlands has established a parliamentary right of assent in matters concerning Justice and Home Affairs (jha), the intention of the two Houses of Parliament was never to regulate the relationship with the government, but, instead, to compensate for the lack of parliamentary involvement at the European level (Van den Brink 2004). In practice, however, this mechanism has actually developed into a tool that enables Parliament to exercise some measure of control over the government. However, there are also problems, such as a lack of insight into the dynamics of the European decision making process and the overloading of the parliamentary committees concerned (Raad van State 2003; Den Heijer 2007). Consequently, there may be a risk that a parliamentary right of assent will be transformed into a serious obstacle in the decision making process (which also frustrates decision making in Brussels), rather than a means of initiating a substantive debate on eu policy proposals. Another problem is that the parliamentary right of assent has virtually no visible impact on Dutch citizens. Even if a substantive debate were to take place in Parliament, it would contribute very little to the notion that citizens’ views are being represented in the areas of Justice and Home Affairs. 99 Horizontal safeguards may not only be relevant at the level of specific policy issues, but also in the accommodation of generic views on European co-operation. As indicated in chapter 2, legitimacy problems are not limited to the level of individual policy issues, but manifest themselves on the level of political community as well. These latter problems can be explained by the inherently ambiguous nature of the eu itself. Indeed, the eu is not just an unprecedented entity (and can therefore not be understood in state-like terms), but is also engaged in a continuous process of intensive change and permanent development. Beck (2006) accordingly argues that Europe is permanently in the ‘design phase’. Shaping the eu is not only a European matter, but also a permanent national and therefore a Dutch responsibility. Constitutional safeguards The present discussion on the significance of the Dutch Constitution for government and society (see, e.g., Nationale Conventie 2006) provides some interesting perspectives on the strengthening of eu legitimacy in the
ediscovering europe in the netherlands Netherlands. At present, the Dutch Constitution is at the centre of attention because of its potential to ensure the cohesion of Dutch society (Van der Tang and Zoethout 2006). The political and academic debate on the introduction of constitutional review in the Dutch legal system is also relevant in this context. The National Convention has proposed the establishment of a special Constitutional Court with the power to test the constitutionality of Dutch legislation. 100 This is in line with earlier proposals in this regard (Besselink, Kummeling, De Lange, Mendelts and Prechal 2002), that the Dutch Constitution should at the very least reflect the reality of eu membership. At present, the Constitution contains no reference at all to this reality. The debate concerning any amendment to the Dutch Constitution should also address European co-operation and the variety of views on the subject. Based on the various policy issues that have thus far been studied, it can be concluded that views on specific topics are strongly determined by views on European co-operation in general. It would therefore be useful to create a formal opening to ensure that this debate is actually conducted and that it ultimately leads to the formulation of common elements which together constitute a Dutch view on eu membership. The Constitution would then not only reflect what binds the Dutch as a people, but also what binds them to the world around them. In this respect, experiences from other member states can also provide some interesting examples. The German Constitution (see box 4.1), for example, stresses the democratic and constitutional development of the eu. In its Instrument of Government, Sweden lays down the protection of fundamental rights as a basic principle of the European integration process, while France articulates the role of eu member states which have voluntarily decided to commonly exercise sovereign powers. The French Constitution also makes explicit mention of French participation in and its commitment to the Economic and Monetary Union and the free movement of persons. These countries have decided to lay down specific views, without these necessarily being the ‘finalité’ of the integration process. Thus, the Netherlands has a comprehensive menu to choose from regarding the formulation of views to be enacted in the national constitution. Box 4.1 Constitutional review in Germany and France Germany has established a specialised Constitutional Court, the Bundesverfassungsgericht in Karlsruhe, charged to the exclusion of regular German judicial bodies with reviewing the constitutionality of the exercise of public authority. Fundamental rights and the provisions on the protection of the German federal structure are the most important
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Following the negative 2005 referen
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