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

strengthening the legitimacy of dutch eu policy: conclusions and recommendations
their own accord to the embedding of Europe in the Netherlands; eu policy
is often too marginal a part of their regular activities, and those organisations
that are concerned with Europe are currently not sufficiently focused
on the national political arena. Consequently, politicians and policy makers
are crucial when it comes to leading the political and social embedding of
the eu at the national level. It is only if they take on this role themselves,
that the news media and civil society will subsequently become mobilised.
And only then will things take a turn for the better so that the media and
civil society organisations will provide more effective links between policy
makers and citizens, so that eu policy can become more firmly embedded
in Dutch society.
The proposals for strengthening the social embedding and legitimacy of
eu policy in the Netherlands put forward in this report offer a portfolio of
instruments from which politicians and policy makers may select as they
deem fit. Some, like the use of red and green lines as political safeguards,
transforming the Subsidiarity Committee into a prioritisation committee
and strengthening the strategic role of the Prime Minister in the reiz-ea
(Subcommittee currently responsible for European affairs), could be
realised within a relatively short period of time. Other instruments, such
as the introduction of preferenda and the creation of constitutional safeguards,
are more radical in nature and require extensive political consideration
and debate, partly in light of possible reforms at the eu level.
Whichever combination is chosen and whichever (supplementary) sources
of legitimacy are addressed, it has to be acknowledged that there are no
simple remedies or quick fixes. The dynamic of European integration and
the social and political changes in the Netherlands demand continuous
attention for European and national processes of democratic and constitutional
legitimisation.
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