Political system of the Netherlands

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The Binnenhof in The Hague, the political center of the Netherlands. The knight's hall serves joint meetings of the first and second chambers.
Establishment of the Dutch state

The political system of the Netherlands is determined by the system of parliamentary democracy , in which parties play a major role. The parliament is divided into two chambers: the first chamber is elected by the provincial parliaments, the second chamber by the people . The latter is the actual national representative body . The balance of power between the parties there determines how the government is composed.

The most important historical milestones were, after the founding of the current state in 1815, the introduction of ministerial responsibility in the constitution in 1848 and universal suffrage (with proportional representation) in 1918. Since the 1960s and 1970s, as the Verzuiling (the social separation according to socio-cultural Milieus) weakened, the election results are often very fluctuating.

Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a constitutional entity in Europe and America. It consists of four countries. In addition to the European Netherlands, these are the Caribbean islands of Curaçao , Aruba and Sint Maarten . In principle, each of these four countries regulates its own affairs. Matters that are regulated by Reich laws for the entire Reich are, in particular, the exterior, defense, nationality and extraditions, as well as maritime shipping.

The Netherlands, which has a strong dominance in terms of population and economic strength, is also in a very dominant position legally. The Dutch States General (the parliament) pass the imperial laws. Bijzondere gedelegeerden ("special delegates") of the other three countries only have the right to speak when dealing with the draft of a Reich law that affects their country and can submit amendments to it.

The Rijksministerraad consists of the Dutch ministers and an authorized representative from each of the three other countries. If the Second Chamber passes the draft of a Reich law with less than three-fifths of the votes despite the objection of an authorized minister, the parliamentary discussion is interrupted for a discussion of the draft law in the Council of Ministers. In addition, an authorized minister can, under certain conditions, ensure that a Reich law does not apply to his country. The Netherlands alone decide on imperial affairs that exclusively concern the Netherlands.

General characterization

From a political science point of view, the Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy, but a constitutional monarchy in terms of constitutional law . The word “democracy” does not appear in the Dutch constitution , and the question of sovereignty is not answered. The king belongs to the government and appoints the ministers without the parliament being officially involved. In fact, around 1866, the parliamentary principle prevailed, which means that the king de facto only appoints ministers who are supported by a parliamentary majority. The Netherlands ranked eleventh in 2019 on the Democracy Index published by The Economist magazine .

The Netherlands is a decentralized unitary state. The provinces are administrative units with self-governing organs; they are not given the status of a state. Below the provinces there is the third and lowest level in the vertical state structure, the municipalities. The heads of the provinces (agents of the king) and municipalities (mayors) are appointed by the Minister of the Interior. After the great liberal state reformer of the 19th century, one speaks of the Huis van Thorbecke (House of Thorbecke).

The Dutch citizen has one vote at each of the three levels: for a candidate for the Second Chamber, for a candidate for the provincial states and for a candidate for the municipal council . There is also a special administrative level, the waterschappen , which are also chosen. In addition, there is the vote for a candidate for the European Parliament . All EU citizens in the Netherlands can vote in the European Parliament, and other foreigners can also vote in the municipal council.

level Popular representation government
Netherlands Staten-Generaal , consisting of the first and the second chamber Regering :
- Kroon (inheritance law)
- Ministers (appointed by the Crown)
12 provinces Provincial States Debated earth states :
- Commissaris van de Koning (appointed by the Minister of the Interior)
- three to seven debuted earth (elected by Provinciale Staten )
over 300 parishes Gemeenteraad College van burgemeester en wethouders :
- Burgemeester (appointed by the Minister of the Interior)
- at least two wethouders (elected by the local council)
25 watermarks Algemeen tax Dagelijks bestuur or college van dijkgraaf en heemraden :
- Dijkgraaf (appointed by the Minister of the Interior)
- heemraden (elected by the algemeen bestuur )

Head of State and Government

In the Netherlands, the government officially consists of the king and the ministers. The king is the permanent part of the government (formally the head of government), the ministers are the non-permanent part. The government in the sense of executive power in the state is called overheid (literally: authority).

See also: List of Dutch Prime Ministers , List of Governments of the Netherlands , List of Rulers of the Netherlands

king

King Willem-Alexander

The crown is hereditary since 1815 in the House of Orange-Nassau , as the Kingdom of the Netherlands with William I founded. Constitutional documents often speak of the vorst (prince). King Willem-Alexander has been the head of state since April 30, 2013 .

The monarch must sign laws for them to come into effect (with a few exceptions). However, there has never been a refusal to sign. The king can dissolve both houses of parliament. In practice, however, only the Second Chamber is dissolved, usually after a ruling coalition has broken. Official acts of the king, such as the signing of laws or royal decisions ( e.g. dissolution of parliament, statutory orders) must be countersigned by at least one minister or state secretary . The appointment and dismissal of ministers and state secretaries must be countersigned by the Prime Minister. He is supported in his work by the king's cabinet .

Council of Ministers

So-called bordesscene , with the queen and ministers. Here the bordesscene from 2010 with the new Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) and the then Queen Beatrix .

The government consists of the king (the so-called permanent part of the government) and the ministers. The prime minister and the other ministers and state secretaries (who do not necessarily have to be appointed) are appointed and dismissed by the king. The government without the king is called the Council of Ministers or the Cabinet. The cabinet meetings take place without the presence of the king, but the prime minister reports to him once a week. The liaison office between the King and Prime Minister is called Kabinet van de Koning and should not be confused with the actual cabinet . The constitution does not recognize a vote of no confidence. However, the unwritten rule applies that the Council of Ministers or an individual minister resigns if the Second Chamber expresses its distrust.

The Prime Minister's position is considered to be rather weak, and before 1983 he was not even mentioned in the constitution. The only legal difference between him and the other ministers is that the appointment and dismissal of the other ministers and the state secretaries require his countersignature. It was not until 1937 that the Prime Minister received his own apparatus in the form of the Ministry of General Affairs ; previously the actual head of government was a normal specialist minister. The title of minister-president was introduced in 1945.

Informateur and formateur

Although the Constitution does not provide for this, it has been customary since 1918 for the Council of Ministers to resign after an election to the Second Chamber and for a new government to be formed. The formation of a government is strongly institutionalized. The following approach had developed:

  • To explore possible coalitions, the King receives the chairmen of the two chambers of parliament, the vice-chairman of the State Council and the group chairmen in the second chamber.
  • On the basis of their recommendations, the king appoints an informant (sometimes two or three) who brings possible coalition partners to a table. Informers are active or former politicians, often members of the State Council. If the negotiations run smoothly, the informator returns his order and one or more new ones are appointed.
Often (but not always) the first informant appointed after an election is someone from the party with the most votes.
  • If the coalition partners agree on the content and the allocation of posts, the informator informs the king and suggests a formateur . This is often the future prime minister.
  • The king calls the formateur who puts together the cabinet, which is then appointed and sworn in by the king.

In March 2012, the Second Chamber decided to change its rules of procedure. In future she wants to appoint the informateur or formateur instead of the king. However, the appointment and dismissal of cabinet members and their swearing in remain constitutional duties of the king.

It usually takes around two to four months to form a government. It took the longest after the elections of 1972 (163 days, → Cabinet Den Uyl ), 1977 (208 days, → Cabinet Van Agt I ) and 2017 (226 days, → Cabinet Rutte III ). It took Mark Rutte a particularly short time, around seven weeks, to be (again) appointed Prime Minister after the September 2012 election on November 5.

State Council

The king is chairman of the Council of State, the Raad van State . It also includes (if of legal age) his prospective successor and possibly other members of the royal house. The members of the royal house have no voting rights. The king appoints up to 28 additional members for life. The actual management of the State Council lies with the Vice President. Most of the members of the State Council are lawyers and are made up of former politicians, senior officials and university teachers. A department of the State Council acts as the highest administrative court.

Four other departments of the State Council, structured according to policy fields, perform an expert function. All bills (with the exception of the budget) and ordinances are examined by the State Council, both in terms of content and legal aspects. The legal examination is important because there is no constitutional jurisdiction. If the king is unable to exercise his office, the Council of State performs his duties until a regent is installed.

Coalitions

As a rule, the strongest party is involved in government and provides the prime minister. This has always been the case since 1986, while previously the PvdA was the strongest party in the opposition and the office of Prime Minister did not always go to the strongest coalition partner. It also takes into account which parties have gained the most. Ultimately, however, it is crucial which parties can work together in terms of content and have a majority. There have always been groups in Parliament that have taken a fundamental opposition position or that most other groups have not considered capable of forming a coalition. In addition to parties far to the left or far to the right, this also includes interest parties such as senior citizens' parties, but also radical Protestant parties.

From 1918 to 2010 the Christian Democrats were almost always represented in the government and mostly provided the prime minister. Before 1980 there were three parties, the Catholic People's Party (KVP), the popular Calvinist ARP and the more conservative-Protestant CHU, which did not always take part in the government together; that year they merged to form the CDA . This bloc mostly preferred the liberal VVD as a coalition partner. The Social Democrats of the PvdA , traditionally the second strongest force, were involved in government four times at that time, the Prime Minister was Social Democrat three times (1948–1958, 1973–1977, 1994–2002). In the elections in 2010 and especially in 2012, the VVD and PvdA came out of the ballot box as by far the largest parties, while the CDA fell to the rank of a rather smaller party. In the 2017 election, the PvdA crashed drastically, while the CDA recovered slightly. Since then, the VVD alone has remained as a fairly large party.

The formation of a government is becoming more difficult and more difficult to predict, although the number of parties in the Second Chamber has not changed significantly since the 1960s, usually nine to twelve. But the two formerly large parties, CDA and PvdA, are now attracting significantly fewer voters, while parties on the political fringes such as the SP and the PVV have gained a large number of people. Since the 1990s, three parties have usually been necessary for an absolute majority; the coalition of VVD and PvdA that ruled from 2012 to 2017 was the first two-party government since 1994. The cabinet from 2010 to 2012 was the first since 1918 that (after an election) was formed without a majority in the Second Chamber; it was tolerated by the PVV. Previously, there were minority governments only as temporary solutions until a new election.

So far, the majority in the First Chamber has not played a decisive role in the formation of a government, but the government almost always had a majority there too. Because of the increasingly volatile voting behavior since the 1970s, the majority ratios in both chambers tend to differ more and more, which increases the likelihood that a coalition with a majority in the second chamber will not have a majority in the first chamber. Since the First Chamber is politically (not under constitutional) significantly less important, the cabinets under Rutte in 2010 and 2012 accepted the fact that they did not have a majority there and that they have to seek support from the opposition parties on a case-by-case basis.

In the Netherlands it is unusual to speak of large coalitions, as there have traditionally been three larger parties or party blocs, two of which were always represented in the government (CDA, PvdA, VVD). At most, a distinction used to be made between narrow and broad cabinets, with the latter representing significantly more parties than is mathematically necessary for an absolute majority. The Catholic-Social-Democratic cabinets from 1948 to 1958 were called “Roman-red” (but not that of 1965/1966, despite a similar basis); the two social democratic-liberal cabinets (PvdA, VVD, D66) from 1994 to 1998 were called paars (purple).

Party membership of the cabinet since 1946
official
competes 		Minister (including
Prime Minister) 		Number of
ministers 		Prime Minister
07/03/1946 KVP 5, PvdA 5, independent 3 13 Louis Beel (KVP)
08/07/1948 KVP 6, CHU 1, PvdA 5, VVD 1, independent 2 15th Willem Drees (PvdA)
03/15/1951 KVP 6, CHU 2, PvdA 5, VVD 1, independent 1 15th
09/02/1952 KVP 6, ARP 2, CHU 2, PvdA 5, non-party 1 16
10/13/1956 KVP 5, ARP 2, CHU 2, PvdA 5 14th
12/22/1958 KVP 7, ARP 3, CHU 2 12 Louis Beel (KVP)
05/19/1959 KVP 6, ARP 2, CHU 2, VVD 3 13 Jan de Quay (KVP)
07/24/1963 KVP 6, ARP 2, CHU 2, VVD 3 13 Victor Marijnen (KVP)
04/14/1965 KVP 6, ARP 3, PvdA 5 14th Jo Cals (KVP)
11/22/1966 KVP 7, ARP 5 12 Jelle Zijlstra (ARP)
04/05/1967 KVP 6, ARP 3, CHU 2, VVD 3 14th Piet de Jong (KVP)
07/06/1971 KVP 6, ARP 3, CHU 2, VVD 3, DS'70 2 16 Barend Biesheuvel (ARP)
08/09/1972 KVP 6, ARP 3, CHU 3, VVD 3 15th
05/11/1973 KVP 4, ARP 2, PvdA 7, D66 1, PPR 2 16 Joop den Uyl (PvdA)
December 19, 1977 CDA 10 (KVP 5, ARP 3, CHU 2), VVD 6 16 Dries van Agt (CDA)
09/11/1981 CDA 6, PvdA 6, D66 3 15th
05/29/1982 CDA 9, D66 5 14th
04/11/1982 CDA 8, VVD 6 14th Ruud Lubbers (CDA)
07/14/1986 CDA 9, VVD 5 14th
11/07/1989 CDA 7, PvdA 7 14th
08/22/1994 PvdA 5, VVD 5, D66 4 14th Wim Kok (PvdA)
08/03/1998 PvdA 6, VVD 6, D66 3 15th
07/22/2002 CDA 6, VVD 4, LPF 4 14th Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA)
October 16, 2002 1 CDA 6, VVD 4, LPF 2 12
05/27/2003 CDA 8, VVD 6, D66 2 16
07/07/2006 CDA 9, VVD 7 16
02/22/2007 CDA 8, PvdA 6, CU 2 16
02/23/2010 2 CDA 9, CU 3 12
10/14/2010 VVD 6, CDA 6 12 Mark Rutte (VVD)
05/11/2012 VVD 7, PvdA 6 13
10/26/2017 VVD 6, CDA 4, D66 4, CU 2 16
1 No new government, two LPF ministers resigned.
2 No new government, change through the departure of the PvdA.

houses of Parliament

Second chamber

The parliament ( Staten-Generaal , States General or Estates General) consists of two chambers. The First Chamber has 75 members. They are elected by the people's representatives of the twelve provinces ( Provinciale Staten ). The second chamber has 150 members and is elected according to general, equal, secret and direct suffrage; it is the actual parliament. The term of office of both chambers normally lasts four years, but the second chamber is often dissolved prematurely. The government has the right to do so. Members of the government and state secretaries are not allowed to sit in parliament.

All laws, international treaties and declarations of war require the consent of both chambers. Bills are first to be discussed in the Second Chamber. Bills can be introduced by the government or members of the Second Chamber. The members of the First Chamber, on the other hand, can neither introduce bills nor submit amendments, but only accept or reject a law unchanged. The latter rarely happens. Despite theoretical equality, the Second Chamber is the much more important one, which also has more members and meets more often.

Since legislation always requires a majority in both chambers, theoretically different political majorities in both chambers could lead to a blockade. In practice, however, this has not yet happened. A government that had a majority in the Second Chamber almost always had a majority in the First Chamber as well. Therefore, it is rare for important laws to be rejected by the First Chamber. The VVD / PvdA government, which ruled from 2012 to 2017, was the first government in over a hundred years to have a majority in the Second Chamber (until 2016) but not in the First Chamber. The members of the First Chamber work part-time as parliamentarians, while those of the Second Chamber usually work full-time and receive a much higher diet.

In a few cases, the two chambers decide in joint session, for example in the annual budget debate called Prinsjesdag , if a member of the royal family agrees to marry or if the king is declared incapable of office. The first chamber is often referred to as the Senaat ; if the name Kamer stands alone, it almost always means the second chamber. Accordingly, one member of the First Chamber is called a Senator and one of the Second Chamber of Commerce .

Elections to the Second Chamber

Lists

Typical ballot paper in the Netherlands, here one for the 2009 European elections

The second chamber is elected according to proportional representation. Although the country is divided into 20 constituencies, these hardly play a role, because usually a party runs with the same list. Only on the lists of larger parties may the lower positions differ according to constituency.

Both political associations (parties) and individuals can submit lists, although the latter is rare. Parties can only take part in the election under their name if their name is entered in a register kept by the Electoral Council ( Kiesraad , which also acts as the national election committee). This register is permanent, but parties will be deleted from it if they did not take part in the last election to the Second Chamber. Only registered (political) associations can apply for inclusion in the register. The application must be submitted no later than the 86th day before the election. The lists are submitted in person by eligible voters on the 44th day before the election. For this purpose, parties authorize a person entitled to vote to submit a list in their name.

Until 2009, each list could contain a maximum of 30 candidates. For parties that had received more than 15 seats in the previous election, each list was allowed to contain twice as many candidates as there were previously seats, but no more than 80. A change in the law that came into force on January 1, 2010, a list can now contain 50 candidates or 80 if the party received more than 15 seats in the previous election. For lists that are not submitted by parties that received at least one seat in the last election, a deposit of 11,250 euros must be paid to the state; in addition, 30 supporter signatures are required in each constituency. The deposit will be paid back if the list (or list group) receives at least 0.5% of the votes nationwide.

From 1973 to 2017, parties could enter into a list connection with one or more other parties (in the terms of the electoral law it was called “list combination”). These parties were treated as a single list vis-à-vis the other parties, which could lead to one or, in theory, several additional seats for the parties involved.

Distribution of seats

Social Democracy poster for universal suffrage for men and women, 1919

The voter has one vote in the election. Strictly speaking, he does not give this to a list, but to a specific candidate on the list. The vote cast for the respective candidate is called voorkeurstem (preferential vote) with regard to this candidate. Normally the top candidate, the lijsttrekker, receives the vast majority of preferential votes; there is also a relatively large number of preferential votes for the first woman on the list or for members of ethnic minorities. Sometimes at the end of a list you can find a prominent non-politician, for example a writer, who wants to support the party (lijstduwer) . This is intended to attract votes from undecided voters.

In the distribution of seats, lists from different constituencies are considered to be one list if they were either submitted by the same political grouping or if they have the same top candidate. For the distribution of the 150 seats, the number of votes is determined first. To do this, divide the number of valid votes cast nationwide by the 150 seats; the quotient gives the kiesdeler .

Each list receives as many seats as results from dividing the nationwide number of votes by the kiesdeler, rounded down to a whole number. In this way, however, all seats can never be awarded. When distributing the seats that have not yet been allocated (remaining seats), only those lists are taken into account whose number of votes is at least equal to that of the kiesdeler . There is thus a blocking clause of 1/150 (corresponds to approx. 0.67%) of the votes. The remaining seats are allocated by assigning a further seat to the list that would have the largest average number of votes per seat if an additional seat were allocated (corresponds to the D'Hondt procedure ). In this procedure, the lists belonging to a list combination (abolished on December 1, 2017) were treated as one list. However, lists that would not have been given a seat outside of a list combination were not considered part of the list combination. The distribution of the seats within the list connection was carried out according to the Hare-Niemeyer method .

Preferential votes

The seats on the list are assigned to the applicants on the list with the most votes, but only candidates whose number of votes is at least a quarter (before 1998: half) of the kiesdeler are considered. If not all seats can be filled in this way, the remaining seats will be allocated to the candidates who have not yet been elected according to the order in the list.

For example, in the 2003 election there were a total of 9,654,475 valid votes. The kiesdeler was 64,363.1666 ... (9,654,475 divided by 150 seats). In order to reach a quarter of the kiesdeler , 16,091 votes were required (64,363,166… divided by 4, rounded up to the next larger whole number). The ChristenUnie received 204,694 votes, giving it three seats. The first candidates to receive seats were those who had each received at least 16,091 preferential votes.

List place / applicant Preferential votes Quarter of the kiesdeler Elected
1. A. Rouvoet 157594 x (first) x
2. A. Slob 10281 x
3. LC van Dijke 6034
4. JC Huizinga-Heringa 19650 x (second) x
5. DJ Stellingwerf 2053
6. R. Kuiper 470
7. RJ coupling pair 748
8. E. van der Sluis 508
... (all others <2000)

The candidates on the list positions 1 and 4 had exceeded the limit of 16,091 votes and were elected in the order of their number of votes. Since the list still had another seat, this went to the not yet elected candidate with the highest position on the list, the candidate in second place. In this case, the candidate in fourth place could break the order on the list with her preferred votes and she was instead of the candidate in 3rd place.

If the lists of a party are not the same in all constituencies, the seats are allocated to the applicants as follows: The seats of the party as a whole are distributed proportionally to the lists in the individual constituencies according to the Hare-Niemeyer procedure ; exactly the same lists in several constituencies are treated like one list. The applicants who have received at least a quarter of the kiesdeler will be assigned in the order of their number of votes to the list on which they have received the most votes (among the lists on which there are still places available). Seats that have not yet been allocated will be filled with the remaining candidates in the order in the individual lists. If a candidate is then elected on more than one list (which happens very often), all the multiple-elected candidates are assigned to the list on which they received the most votes (among the lists on which they were elected). Then the vacant positions are filled with the remaining applicants in the list order. If candidates are again elected several times, the procedure described is repeated until all seats have been assigned to one candidate.

In the practice of elections to the Second Chamber, it is quite common for candidates to achieve a quarter of the kiesdeler , but rarely someone is elected who otherwise would not have made it. In the 2006 election, a total of 27 candidates had sufficient preferential votes, but 26 of them would have become MPs anyway because of their place on the list. From 1922 to 1989, only three candidates came to the Chamber via the preferential vote, although a considerably different procedure then applied. In 1994 nobody was elected by preferential votes only, since then there have been at least one and a maximum of four applicants (2002, 2006 and 2012 one each; 1998, 2003 and 2010 two each; 2017 four).

In municipal council elections, on the other hand, a popular candidate who massively advertises himself has a very good chance of being elected despite a bad place on the list. The parties tolerate this as long as a candidate does not campaign against fellow list members.

Elections First Chamber

The first chamber is elected by the statenleden , the members of all provincial states (the provincial parliaments). The election takes place almost three months after the new election of the provincial parliaments, which are also elected for four years. However, there is no fixed number of seats per province. For each province, the parties can submit a list, which must be signed by a member of the provincial parliament. In practice, the parties submit the same list in each province in which they are represented in the provincial parliament. The seats are distributed very similarly to the election to the Second Chamber on a nationwide proportional basis. Since the small provinces have a higher number of members in the provincial parliaments in relation to the population, the votes are weighted with a voting value. The voting value is determined in such a way that the population of the province on January 1st of the election year is divided by 100 times the number of seats in the provincial parliament and rounded to a whole number.

For the province of Limburg, for example, the election on May 29, 2007 with 1,127,637 residents and 47 seats resulted in a voting value of 1,127,637 / (100 × 47) ≈ 239.92, rounded 240. The votes for the individual parties are multiplied by the voting value of the respective province and added up throughout the country. The distribution of seats is based on the weighted number of votes using almost the same procedure as in the procedure described above for the second chamber. However, when allocating the remaining seats, the parties that received fewer votes than the kiesdeler would be considered are also taken into account . In order to be elected via preferential votes, the full kiesdeler is required instead of 25% of the kiesdeler (up to and including 2007: 50%). In addition, since 2011 there has been no option to join the list for election to the First Chamber.

Since the members of the provincial parliaments almost always vote according to party line, the outcome of the election is quite predictable. The electoral procedure in connection with the practice of nationally uniform lists also takes into account the fact that the members of the First Chamber are not representatives of the provinces, despite being elected by the provincial parliaments. Similar to the municipal council elections, the provincial elections are also strongly determined by national issues.

dualism

In the Netherlands there is a specific use of the term dualism (Dutch dualisme ). It comes from the idea that both government and parliament are involved in the legislative process, i.e. two bodies. Accordingly, government members are not allowed to belong to parliament. In contrast, the British government members, for example, must belong to parliament. From the Dutch point of view, this is monism.

Anyone who calls for more dualism would like parliament to be more independent of the government. The coalition parties, like the opposition parties, should critically monitor the government.

Parties

The Netherlands does not have a comprehensive legal regulation on parties, as there is in Germany with the party law . A law specifically for parties has only been passed since 1997 with the law on subsidizing political parties. It defines a party as a political association that has been included in the register kept by the electoral council for election to the Second Chamber. A party with fewer than 1000 members does not receive any state subsidy, however, it is not obliged to disclose the origin of its funds, such as donations. The state subsidy is such that one party receives a certain amount per member. This amount is higher in election years.

In a Dutch party, the party leader is responsible for the functioning of the party apparatus and is comparatively little prominent. The political leader (or party leader, politieke, unfortunately or partijleider ) is elected separately and is the top candidate in elections, i.e. lijsttrekker .

In the 2017 election , MPs from the following parties came to the Second Chamber:

There is also the Onafhankelijke Senaatsfractie (OSF) in the First Chamber : It is a single MP who mainly represents smaller groups that only work at the provincial level. The PVV is not a party in the strict sense, it has only one member, namely Geert Wilders . In Germany, however, only democratic member parties are allowed to participate in national and regional elections.

Constitutional amendments

The constitutional amendment process is lengthy. First, a law will be passed declaring that a constitutional amendment will be considered, which will be formulated in this law. As with ordinary laws, a simple majority in both chambers is sufficient for adoption. Then the second chamber is dissolved. In practice, however, the Second Chamber is not dissolved specifically for this purpose, but one waits until either a regular election is due or the Chamber is dissolved due to a government crisis. Planned constitutional changes play practically no role in the election campaign before parliamentary elections. After the new election of the second chamber, the constitutional amendment will be discussed again; now a majority of two thirds of the votes cast is required for acceptance in both chambers. The draft may not be changed after the new election, but may be divided into several draft laws by the Second Chamber.

Direct democracy

The constitution does not provide for direct democracy in any form. In 1999 an amendment to the constitution failed, according to which 600,000 citizens could have demanded a legally binding referendum against most of the laws passed by parliament because the required two-thirds majority in the First Chamber was missing by one vote. The legally non-binding vote on the EU constitution on June 1, 2005 (61.6% voted against) was the first referendum that has ever taken place at national level since the constitution of 1815 came into force. Sporadically, individual municipalities have also held legally non-binding referendums.

According to a law that came into force on July 1, 2015 and repealed in 2018, a non-binding, suspensive referendum was held on a law that had already been passed but did not come into force if 300,000 citizens requested it. Exceptions to this were (as was the case with the failed constitutional amendment) laws on the royal house and the budget, as well as laws that exclusively included the implementation of international treaties. The referendum was only valid if the voter turnout was at least 30%. If a law was rejected by a majority in a valid referendum, it initially did not come into force. In this case, the legislature had to pass a new law either to repeal it or to force it into force. In case of urgency it was possible to have a law come into force before a possible referendum. The first referendum enforced by this law was the referendum on the Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine , which took place on April 6, 2016 (61% voted against). The second and last suspensive referendum took place on March 21, 2018 , in which a narrow majority voted against a law on more powers for security services. The government announced that it would enact the law in a slightly modified form.

The abolition of the suspensive referendum came into force on July 12, 2018. The Repeal Act excludes the possibility of a referendum on the abolition of the referendum.

Provincial and local politics

The Netherlands is organized centrally. The state structure is three-tiered: central state - provinces - municipalities. The sub-national levels receive most of their funding from the central government; a central fund for the percentages or one for the municipalities distributes the money based on criteria such as population, urbanization and risk factors. Own income such as a surcharge on the vehicle tax (provinces) or a property tax (municipalities) play only a minor role. In other respects, too, provinces and municipalities can hardly determine themselves, for example, to attract companies or to set their own political priorities.

The government can revoke resolutions of the provinces and municipalities, but this rarely happens. In a financial emergency, a municipality is placed under the trustee of the province concerned. Then the province ultimately decides on the budget of the municipality. This is also rare.

Provinces

The twelve provinces of the Netherlands.
Provinciehuis of Groningen (in the capital of the province of the same name )

The division of the country into provinces is regulated by simple law and accordingly provinces can be formed or dissolved by simple law. The traditional division of the provinces has only changed significantly since 1815, namely in 1840 with the division of the province of Holland into Noord - and Zuid-Holland and in 1986 with the formation of the province of Flevoland . So there are now twelve provinces. The provinces have relatively few powers and cannot be compared with the German or Austrian federal states. Among other things, they are responsible for spatial planning, local public transport, nature conservation and legal supervision of municipal finances.

The provincial body, directly elected by the citizens, is the provincial parliament ( Provinciale Staten , literally provincial estates), which currently has between 39 and 55 members who work on a voluntary basis. The electoral process is almost identical to that for the Second Chamber. Essentially the same political forces are represented at the provincial level as at the national level. Sometimes there are regional groups there, but (except in Friesland ) they do not play a major role.

At the head of the provincial administration are the Gedeputeerde Staten , consisting of the Commissioner of the King ( Commissaris van de Koning ) appointed by the Minister of the Interior for six years and three to seven deputies, who are secretly elected by the provincial parliament with an absolute majority of valid votes. The term of office of the deputies ends in any case with the end of the electoral term of the provincial states, but they can also be voted out by the provincial parliament. The king's commissioner can be dismissed by the interior minister at any time. The provincial parliament can propose to the interior minister that the commissioner be dismissed. Until 2003 the provincial parliament elected the deputies from among its members, since then deputies are no longer allowed to belong to the provincial parliament. Insofar as powers are not transferred to the commissioner alone (for example in the case of disaster control), the debated earth decides with a majority of votes; in the event of a two-fold tie, the commissioner has the casting vote.

Provincial policy is more consensus-based than national policy. Often more parties are represented in the Gedeputeerde states than are necessary to achieve an absolute majority in the provincial states , but coalitions with a narrow majority also occur.

Communities

The Dutch municipalities, 2019

All municipalities, regardless of size, have the same powers. This is one of the reasons why the government is pushing for smaller communities to be dissolved. Due to partly voluntary, partly forced mergers, the number of communities is falling continuously. In 1996 there were 642 municipalities, on January 1, 2019 there were 355. In Amsterdam and Rotterdam, deelgemeenten existed until March 2014, i.e. districts with their own parliament .

The highest body of the municipality is the municipality council. The council is elected for four years by the adult citizens in the municipality by proportional representation. EU foreigners and other foreigners who have been lawfully residing in the Netherlands for at least five years without interruption are also entitled to vote. The number of council members (raadsleden) is between 9 (up to 3,000 inhabitants) and 45 (over 200,000 inhabitants), depending on the size of the municipality. The council takes all decisions that are not reserved by law to the college van burgemeester en wethouders (municipal government, magistrate ) or the mayor .

The procedure for allocating seats for the councils in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants is almost identical to that for the Second Chamber, but municipalities are never divided into constituencies; there is no threshold clause. In the case of municipal councils with fewer than 19 members (municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants), the seats are distributed according to the Hare-Niemeyer method instead of the d'hondt system with the special rule that groups that receive less than 75% of the kiesdelers do not receive a seat . The hurdle for breaking the list order is 50 instead of 25% of the kiesdelers . In contrast to elections to the Second Chamber, in municipal elections candidates are more often only chosen thanks to preferential votes. Local groupings play a large role in local elections, with their importance being greatest in smaller municipalities.

Local council meeting in Oude IJsselstreek . In front left Mayor Hans Alberse as chairman of the municipal council. His colleagues, the wethouders, are sitting in the background on the right . On the far right there a chair has been released for Alberse as a member of college van burgemeester en wethouders . If the local council asks Mayor Alberse questions in his capacity as a member of the college , Alberse takes this chair and a member of the local council chairs the local council meeting as deputy chairman.

The mayor ( burgemeester ) is appointed for six years by royal resolution on the proposal of the interior minister. Renewed appointment is possible after expiry. The proposal of the minister is preceded by a proposal by the municipal council with the participation of the king's commissioner; the interior minister is usually bound by this proposal. The mayor can be dismissed at any time by royal resolution on the proposal of the interior minister. The Council can propose to the Minister of the Interior that the mayor be dismissed. But it has also happened that a mayor resigned of his own accord after the council had expressed its distrust of him. B. in January 2010 in Maastricht .

The business of the community is largely run by the magistrate, which consists of the mayor and alderman. In Dutch one speaks of College van burgemeester en wethouders ( college or B en W for short ). The word wethouder is translated in German as councilor, meaning a member of the magistrate with tasks that were assigned to him during the formation of a coalition, such as culture or social affairs.

Only if certain tasks are assigned to the mayor by law does he make his own decisions; this essentially concerns the representation of the community to the outside and powers to maintain public order. Otherwise, the mayor primarily has a coordinating function as the chairman of the magistrate, but he is not the superior of the councilors. The magistrate decides with a majority of votes; in the event of a two-fold tie, the mayor's vote decides.

The wethouders are elected by the council in secret ballot with an absolute majority of valid votes. Until 2002 the wethouders had to belong to the council, since then they are no longer allowed to be members of the council. Their term of office ends at the end of the council's electoral term. Wethouders can be voted out of office by the council.

The number of wethouders is at least two and at most one fifth of the number of members of the council, rounded to the nearest whole number. If there are part-time councilors, the maximum number is a quarter of the council members.

As at the provincial level, at the municipal level there are both coalitions with a narrow majority and broad coalitions with more partners than the majority in the council requires. The often great fragmentation can mean that parties that are ideologically far apart are also represented in the magistrate at the same time, for example VVD and SP.

Former ministers and members of the Second Chamber are appointed mayors more often. Conversely, working as a wethouder in a larger city can be a stepping stone into national politics, examples being the former Prime Ministers Willem Drees and Joop den Uyl .

BES islands

After the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles , the Caribbean islands of Bonaire , Sint Eustatius and Saba with a total of almost 20,000 inhabitants have been part of the Netherlands as special municipalities since October 10, 2010 , but not part of the EU. They are also called BES islands ( BES eilanden , because of the first letters).

Each of the islands forms a public corporation ( openbaar lichaam ), for which the same rules apply as for the other Dutch municipalities, unless different rules apply by law. Dutch law is gradually being introduced on the BES Islands, but the US dollar remains the official currency instead of the euro. The islands do not belong to any province; the king's commissioner is replaced by the imperial representative ( Rijksvertegenwoordiger voor de openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba ). The Dutch living there will in future be fully active and passively entitled to vote for the election to the Second Chamber, after previously only those Dutch living there who had lived in the Netherlands for at least 10 years or who worked in the Dutch public service were eligible to vote. Since 2017, the councils of the islands can also take part in the election to the First Chamber.

Judiciary

The Netherlands belong to the continental European legal system . Dutch law was heavily influenced by French law. In the 20th century, the Netherlands partly approached the German and partly came to its own solutions. In this way, the Netherlands received Roman-Germanic law.

The lowest level of jurisprudence and mostly the first instance are 11 legal banks ( comparable to German local courts ), which usually have several meeting places in their rather large catchment areas. In criminal and tax matters as well as in legal disputes in the field of civil law, an appeal can be lodged against your judgments at one of the four righteous hoven (singular: righteous court ) Cassation (corresponds to the German revision ) at the High Council is possible against decisions of the Justice Hoven . The court of appeal in the field of administrative law , rarely also the first instance, is either the Centrale Raad van Beroep (social and civil service law), the College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven ( economic administrative law ) or the Raad van State (other administrative law); There are no legal remedies against the judgments of these courts.

There is no constitutional jurisdiction. Article 120 of the Constitution even expressly forbids judges to examine laws for their constitutionality. The reason for this is the idea of ​​separation of powers. There is no involvement of honorary judges in the judiciary .

The public prosecutor's offices operate according to the principle of opportunity and do not necessarily have to prosecute criminal offenses if they become aware of them, whereas a German public prosecutor's office normally has to do so. Politically, this is important for drug policy. The possession of small amounts of drugs for personal consumption is generally not prosecuted, although it is a criminal offense. The principle of opportunity enables pragmatic and flexible handling of the law, but can lead to contradictions. The sale of “soft” drugs in coffee shops (and only there) is tolerated, provided they meet a number of conditions. However, these coffee shops cannot actually get to the drugs they sell, as neither growing them for commercial purposes nor importing them is legal or tolerated.

Social policy

Coffee shop in Rotterdam

In the 1980s, a permissive policy was introduced based on the principle of drugged (tolerating): Something that is not necessarily supported in principle is still tolerated because a restrictive policy would have worse consequences. Well-known examples are prostitution and drug use. However, not everything is allowed in the Netherlands either, and there is a heated discussion about coffee shops where “ soft drugs ” can be sold and consumed quasi-legally. The Netherlands was also the first state to allow same-sex marriage (homohuwelijk) . Another point in this context is the toleration of active euthanasia (euthanasia) , which is criticized especially by the two strictly religious parties.

For gedogen the foreigner policy, was themed belonged: integration while maintaining one's own culture. This policy was again heavily criticized in the late 1990s, not only by right-wing politicians. As early as 2000, the social democratic professor Paul Scheffer warned of a “multicultural drama” that would be the greatest threat to social peace.

The Pim Fortuyn case received international attention : the right-wing populist had predicted large gains in votes in the polls for the 2002 general election, and in fact, despite Fortuyn's assassination shortly before, his party became the second largest force in parliament on the spot. On November 2, 2004, the filmmaker Theo van Gogh was also murdered. Fortuyn and van Gogh had in common that they became known not least through criticism of Islam , but that neither of them could be classified as traditional right-wing extremism.

As a result of the murder of Van Gogh, arson attacks were carried out on mosques, and there were expressions of hatred, in particular against foreigners of the Muslim religion, but also attacks on churches. The incidents sparked heated discussions about the integration of foreigners and the coexistence of different cultures and religions. Since then, large sections of the population have been calling for a rigorous policy against violent immigrants and a change in immigration laws, which are perceived as too liberal. Several politicians have since been under police protection as they continue to be threatened by radical Islamists.

Since March 15, 2006, people wishing to immigrate to the Netherlands have to take a test. The test contains questions about language skills, culture and a few other topics. In addition, the minimum immigration age has been raised to 21 years.

Political stability

Internationally, Dutch democracy is considered to be very stable, even in times of crisis like the 1930s. Although there are many parties in parliament, only a small group of parties is relevant to the formation of a government in the long term. The frequent dissolution of parliament with subsequent new elections does not affect the stability.

One study found that the population was very satisfied with politics; this is in contrast to a common perception often reported in the press. For example, the researchers found that young people, for example, show little interest in politics, but are not more suspicious, but rather less suspicious than older people. It could also not be confirmed that the dissatisfaction of those with a lack of education was growing. The decline in trust in special situations, such as at the end of the sixties or around the time of Pim Fortuyn , soon receded.

86 percent of the Dutch are proud of their country, 93 percent find the system of proportional representation best, 77 percent are satisfied with the way democracy works. There is also a high level of trust in parliament, parties, politicians and even in the government compared to other European countries.

See also

literature

  • Arco Timmermanns, Peter Scholten, Steven Oostlander: Legislation in the political system of the Netherlands . In: Wolfgang Ismayr (Ed.): Legislation in Western Europe. EU countries and the European Union. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften , Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-8100-3466-3 , pp. 271-302.
  • Norbert Lepszy, Markus Wilp: The political system of the Netherlands . In: Wolfgang Ismayr (Ed.): The political systems of Western Europe. 4th edition, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-16464-9 , pp. 405-450.
  • Markus Wilp: The political system in the Netherlands. An introduction . VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-18579-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Statuut voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden ; accessed on April 30, 2018
  2. ↑ Democracy-Index 2019 Overview chart with comparative values ​​to previous years , on economist.com
  3. ↑ FAZ.net / Klaus Max Smolka March 12, 2017: What happens if Wilders wins? . See also Centrum voor Parlementaire Geschiedenis (Center for Parliamentary History , CPG) at Radboud University Nijmegen (2012): De kabinetsformatie in vijftig stappen (“Cabinet building in fifty steps”), ISBN 978-94-6105-572-9 .
  4. ↑ Trouw from March 19, 2012: Staatshoofd speelt voortaan geen rol meer bij formatie .
  5. ↑ https://zoek.officielebekendmakingen.nl/stb-2009-452.html .
  6. ↑ http://www.eerstekamer.nl/nieuws/20101116/lijstverbindingen_niet_meer
  7. ↑ Wet subsidiëring politieke partijen Stichting AB
  8. ↑ Joep Dohmen: Alleen Wilders lid PVV ( Memento of the original of February 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nrc.nl archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
  9. ↑ Wet van 30 September 2014, houdende rules inzake het raadgevend referendum.
  10. ↑ Dutch government: Kabinet Scherpt Wiv 2017 aan
  11. ↑ Wet van 10 July 2018 dead intrekking van de Wet raadgevend referendum
  12. ^ Prosecutor's Office Directive on Drugs
  13. ^ Paul Scheffer : Het multiculturele drama NRC Webpagina's, January 29, 2000
  14. ↑ Maaike van Houten: Sla geen alarm over democratie , in: Trouw , April 17, 2014, accessed on April 19, 2014.
  15. ↑ Maaike van Houten: Sla geen alarm over democratie , in: Trouw , April 17, 2014, accessed on April 19, 2014.