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

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
citizens. The only thing that happens then is procedural intervention,
which may improve the system internally, but may not contribute to the
legitimisation of policy. This chapter presents an alternative to this scenario,
which looks for solutions that can eliminate the perverse incentives
that politicians and administrators have which can present obstacles to the
legitimisation of eu policy. These solutions exploit one or more dimensions
of legitimacy, namely representation, accountability, results and
identification. The wrr will also use this yardstick to evaluate proposals
from other relevant advisory bodies and authors in this context. 1
Actors
The government, Parliament and the various political parties are the main
actors in the arena of politics and administration (see figure 3.1). The
following sections explore the possibilities of these actors to contribute to
the legitimisation of eu policy in the Netherlands. While doing so,
however, it is important to bear in mind the specific interests and positions
that determine the actions of these actors.
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Figure 3.1
Connections between actors in the political system
Various eu institutions
Administration and
civil cervants
Government /Ministers
1 2
Parliament
POLITICS
AND
ADMINISTRATION
Political parties
3 4
Citizens
1. Parliamentary contacts with eu institutions
2. Political contacts via party politics (national/ep)
3. National Parliamentary elections (every four years)
4. European Parliamentary elections (every five years)