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

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
long waiting lists in their own country. However, these developments
appear to have had little impact thus far on either health insurers or patient
associations (Van Veen 2007). The Dutch government could stand to
become a bit more pro-active in this area to ensure that these developments
actually become relevant for society, and thus contribute to (result-based)
legitimacy.
Accountability
In certain circumstances, national policy makers and politicians are not
only held accountable on European issues by political institutions, but also
sometimes directly by its own citizens. If a citizen or a company suffers
damages due to the non-implementation or the faulty implementation
of an eu law, they can seek compensation for damages by appealing to
the national courts. The possibility of constitutional review, which was
discussed in the preceding section, offers another recourse for citizens,
but only if they are awarded a hearing in the Constitutional Court.
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Moreover, ‘lighter’ forms of accountability are also a possibility and could
be provided by the national ombudsman who offers citizens a low-threshold
remedy to independently investigate public authorities. The national
ombudsman can first of all contribute to the internalisation of European
law within national policy. In individual cases, the ombudsman can investigate
whether a particular European law has been applied correctly and
alert public authorities to any errors. This role by definition need not be
reactive by nature. For example, in a recent case, the Dutch ombudsman
highlighted the negative effects that proposed health insurance legislation
would have on Dutch citizens living abroad. The ombudsman thus
fulfilled an ‘early warning’ function, by anticipating problems and proposing
solutions before the problems actually occurred. The contribution that
the national ombudsman could make to the legitimisation of eu policy in
the Netherlands must also be assessed in light of his membership to the
(recently created) European network of ombudsmen. National experiences
can thus be more easily compared to similar experiences in other member
states. Moreover, this network simplifies the exchange of information.
The network may thus be seen as an embryonic accountability mechanism
(Fischer 2004), which is easily accessible to citizens and which fits in with
the multi-level system of European governance. The increased visibility
of the national ombudsman offers extra opportunities in this respect.
The Brenninkmeijer and Diamandouros (2005) report on the role of
national ombudsmen in the national application of European law raises
a number of critical remarks, however. For instance, it is noted that the
national ombudsmen of the 27 member states seldom regard European law