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

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civil society that are relevant to their causes. However, the asymmetry between the activities of (especially traditional) civil society organisations in the Netherlands and the domains in which eu policy is relevant begs the question of whether the diversity of civil society and thus its representativeness is sufficiently guaranteed. If the government wishes to assure the input of civil society in the formulation of national eu policy, it is vital that attention not be limited to the traditional, institutionalised organisations. Given this asymmetry, it is important that attention be paid to ad hoc initiatives, single-issue coalitions and other less rigidly organised or institutionalised forms of civil society. A second requirement is that the government shows itself to be open to input from civil society in all its forms. The example of the platform set up for the introduction of the euro shows that the government considers civil society relevant mainly for its contribution to the implementation of policy. If it also recognises the importance of the representation of community interests, it will have to assign this function its proper value. Accountability Openness to organisations which do not form part of the traditional, institutionalised structure is of indisputable importance in the activating of the accountability function of civil society. It is, after all, more logical that these organisations should fulfil the role of ‘thorn in the side’ than organisations which have themselves become part of the system. Civil society organisations have two ways of shaping this function and demanding political accountability: via the specific interests they represent and via their involvement in policy implementation. 133 Identification Because civil society organisations act on the basis of their own interests, ‘Europe’ as such is usually of little interest to them (Van den Berg and Brandsen 2007: 31). These organisations are more concerned with specific, relevant policies. This means that a substantial contribution to the development of views on Europe as a political community should not be expected from civil society. If civil society has a contribution to make to identification processes, then this is above all a question of identification ‘by doing’ (Schmidt 2006). This means that civil society can acquire significance among Dutch citizens mainly as a link that contributes to the identification of citizens with Europe by being permanently recognisable in their European role. The contribution to identification processes is an extension of the role of civil society in representing community interests, demanding accountability in respect to Dutch eu policy and being involved in the content of that policy. It will thus become clear that achieving this is a process that will take some time.
ediscovering europe in the netherlands Given the findings in this chapter, the wrr recommends that the rigidity in the administrative approach to civil society organisations be relaxed and that greater openness be created towards other civil society organisations, initiatives, coalitions and platforms, each of which in their own way – and often related to different dimensions of legitimacy – can make a valuable contribution to eu policy legitimacy in the Netherlands. This would create favourable conditions for civil society to play a role in the legitimisation of Dutch eu policy. 134
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