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

politics and administration
Representatives (Second Chamber) as well, there is a modest but steady
build-up of European expertise and support capacity.
While the previous chapter demonstrated that a lack of involvement by
Dutch mps is not primarily due to their inability, but more the result of a
deliberate and realistic political judgement. It is often difficult and usually
not that appealing for politicians to adopt a high profile on European
issues. It is essential to acknowledge this because it means that changes in
the institutions and working methods of the Dutch Parliament will only
lead to greater involvement on the part of mps if they have stronger incentives
to do so. The challenge is therefore to provide national mps with
incentives which mobilise them on European as well as national issues.
Even then, the success of the proposals set out below will depend on the
commitment of those involved. A further constraint is that all of the
proposals will have to fit within the parameters of the common structures
of European decision making at the eu level.
The first step in activating the linking function of national mps lies in
substantive issues. This impulse regarding the content of dossiers has occasionally
already manifested itself. A political debate did eventually arise in
the Netherlands regarding the possible socio-economic consequences of
the Services Directive (Pelkmans and Van Kessel 2007). It is important that
mps, in exercising their mandate, ensure that full attention is given to the
wishes, concerns and expectations of Dutch citizens concerning the
content and results of Dutch eu policy. This is difficult because citizens
not only have high expectations when it comes to eu policy – in fields such
as the combating of terrorism and environmental policy – but at the same
time they assume that the national government will protect them from
what they perceive as eu undesirable interference in their personal lives
(European Commission 2006b, Standard Eurobarometer 65). A good starting
point is to tap into the experiences of citizens in areas where ‘Europe’
has already made itself felt in all kinds of ways: the Europe of the ‘Polish
plumber’ and the tourist, the ‘green’ or ‘social’ Europe, the free market or
‘Fortress Europe’. Europe has a multitude of meanings for its citizens,
which politicians could readily access. Moreover, assigning a stronger
strategic role to the Prime Minister and offering a clearer prioritisation and
profiling of substantive themes by the government could also provide an
incentive for mps to express their own views and to insist that the government
take responsibility for its positions. In this way, Parliament could
function as a platform from which the views of the citizens on European
issues are articulated, which, in turn, could reinforce legitimacy through
representation. This could, moreover, facilitate the influence Parliament
has on the outcome of eu policy – though this would require politicians
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