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

ediscovering europe in the netherlands
aimed at according higher priority to the preparation of policy on issues
and themes of particular political importance from a Dutch perspective.
The second is concerned with the configuration of the political steering
and direction of Dutch eu policy.
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Firstly, prioritisation by the government means that the government must
be able to rise above specific policy issues, to identify and weigh the importance
of issues that are of crucial political importance to the Netherlands,
and to adopt a standpoint on those issues. Such substantive choices have
become essential in a political Union which impinges more and more upon
the vital interests of Europe’s citizens. What are the key developments
for the Netherlands in areas such as asylum and immigration, the environment,
the social impact of internal market policy, and what does the
government wish to emphasise here? Within which specific areas should
views of this kind manifest themselves? Adopting such an approach would
prevent the Dutch input from being driven too much by the internal ‘logic’
of individual policy issues, with the risk that only relevant expertise would
count. Thus, substantial prioritisation demands not only information on
European issues (an aspect which is currently strongly emphasised, especially
in relation to Parliament), but also a substantive position, on the part
of the government on why certain issues are (not) important, what is at
stake (for the Netherlands), which goals the government wishes to achieve,
which strategies need to be employed and what sacrifices or trade-offs it is
willing to make toward that end.
Substantive prioritisation places the democratic legitimisation of political
choices in the foreground. This also makes the European political process
of representation and accountability far more interesting for Parliament,
the media and the public. Within the constraints of an eu in which the
Netherlands is just one of 27 member states, substantive prioritisation is of
course also intended to influence the development and results of eu policy
and to strengthen output legitimacy.
The second element, the configuration of the political control of Dutch eu
policy, is closely related to this. After all, prioritisation requires a level of
robust political control based on the main strategic lines. In order to be able
to make general political assessments that go beyond the scope of individual
issues, a clear allocation of political responsibilities is necessary. The
complex division of tasks within the Cabinet, which in addition to the line
ministers assigns a role to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the State Secretary
for European Affairs and the Prime Minister, is somewhat at odds with
this. It has therefore been proposed at regular intervals (most recently by
the Council of State in 2005) that the political primacy for Dutch eu policy