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

politics and administration
could be transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to a position
closer to the Prime Minister, as part of the Ministry of General Affairs.
Whatever mechanism is chosen in order to bolster the central responsibility
for the strategic choices in relation to eu policy, it is essential that eu
policy becomes an increasingly important and integral part of national
policy. Comparable developments have been taking place in other countries:
the French Conseil d’Etat has, for example, recently proposed a strategic
advisory council for Europe be set up under the aegis of the French President
(Conseil d’Etat 2007).
Even within the existing structures, much can be done in the short term in
order to strengthen this central responsibility. Several proposals have been
put forward to this end, for example, giving the Prime Minister the power
to place items on the agenda in the Council of Ministers (Raad van State
2005), a proposal which has already been implemented in part (see the
Explanatory Memorandum to the Ministry of General Affairs budget
2007). Other suggestions include the creation of ministerial steering
groups at the Cabinet level for ‘horizontal’ issues which go beyond the
responsibilities of individual departments (such as the national eu presidency
and the Financial Perspectives). The actual contribution of these
proposals to the strengthening of national eu policy legitimisation has
however been limited to date, even where they have been applied for some
time (such as the ‘State of the Union’ that is presented annually to accompany
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs budget). Consideration could also be
given to the notion of strengthening the strategic role of the Prime Minister
via the existing Cabinet subcommittee charged with European affairs
(known as the reiz-ea Committee). 3
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In the longer term, the need for a central strategy may require more radical
measures. A shake-up of Cabinet functions, with the position of the Prime
Minister being further strengthened, would then be a logical move. After
all, both within the Cabinet and in the European Council – which is has
become increasingly important as a steering factor at the eu level – the
Prime Minister carries the ultimate political responsibility for Dutch eu
policy. Strengthening the central strategy function would adequately
reflect the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the consistency
of the government policy’s main strategic lines with regard to the eu. In
this way, the Prime Minister, as chair of the Cabinet, can then focus on the
development and promotion of the main lines of eu policy in the Netherlands.
The government would then be sending out a clear signal to citizens,
civil society and the media that the eu is no longer part of Dutch foreign
policy, but derives its legitimacy in part from Dutch political channels of
representation and accountability. This would not affect the individual