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

safeguards and direct citizen participation
4 safeguards and direct citizen
participation
4.1 introduction
The previous chapter discussed the role of politicians and policy makers
from the perspective of representative democracy, in which citizens elect
their representatives who then deliberate and make decisions based on that
mandate. That approach is thus based on the indirect influence that citizens
can exert on the decisions taken by their elected representatives. In this
chapter, other perspectives will be explored. Firstly, it discusses the constitutional
tradition, within which the offering of safeguards on the basis of
subjecting public authority to the rule of law, distribution of power, checks
and balances, protection of the individual and an independent judiciary are
important elements for the legitimisation of public authority. Secondly,
this chapter discusses democratic perspectives other than representative
democracy. The central question here is how citizens themselves can
participate directly in decision making processes, for example via referenda
or citizens’ forums, and how this can contribute to the legitimisation of eu
policy in the Netherlands.
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Neither the constitutional tradition nor direct citizen participation generate
substitutes for representative democracy, instead, they must be seen as
complementary perspectives. The referendum on the Constitutional Treaty,
for example, made clear that a referendum is not a means for national politicians
to hand over decision making to citizens, but in fact, imposes a special
responsibility on them of taking a stand on the relevant issue. Therefore,
this chapter focuses on the possibilities and mechanisms offered by these
perspectives that could reinforce the contribution of national politicians
and policy makers to the legitimisation of eu policy in the Netherlands.
4.2 safeguards
4.2.1 definition of safeguards
The notion of safeguards ensues from the constitutional tradition whereby
all actors in society, i.e. including the government, are subject to the rule of
law. This provides citizens with legal certainty and protects them against
arbitrary actions on the part of public authorities. The separation of powers
and a system of checks and balances are central elements in arrangements
based on the constitutional rule of law. At the European level, these
elements are expressed inter alia in the institutional balance between the
three political institutions (European Commission, European Parliament