College van burgemeester en wethouders

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Municipality of Oude IJsselstreek , May 2010: Mayor Hans Alberse (left, with chain of office) swears in the wethouders (right center of the picture, the councilors in the background).

The college van burgemeester en wethouders ( College van B&W or B&W for short ; German  college of mayors and councilors ) is the government of a Dutch municipality . In Germany the college would be referred to as the magistrate , the wethouders (literally: law-holders) as associates or department heads . Belgium and Luxembourg also know the term lay judge .

The mayor and the individual wethouders are responsible for defined areas of responsibility. While the mayor installs the crown (in practice the interior minister ), the wethouders are elected by the local council. Wethouders have not been allowed to belong to the local council since 2003. Although the mayor is not authorized to issue instructions to the wethouders , he chairs the college and has the casting vote in the event of a tie.

mayor

The Social Democrat Gijs van Hall says goodbye as Mayor of Amsterdam, 1967, with a speech in front of the council and the college .

See also: Mayor in the Netherlands

In the Netherlands, the mayors are appointed by the interior minister. The municipal council issues a recommendation on this; especially in the case of large cities, the balance of power in the national parliament can be important. It is discussed whether the mayor should be elected, but so far there have only been (non-binding) referendums in a few communities.

In college , a mayor is always responsible for internal security and disaster control, and possibly other tasks as well. He is also chairman of the municipal council. His position in local politics depends on his experience, the circumstances of his appointment and the local balance of power. In smaller communities he can have greater influence because his education has some advantages over the wethouders . In large communities, internal security is usually of considerable importance, so that the mayor also has more influence there; besides, one takes a political heavyweight for the big cities as mayor. Otherwise, the position of a Dutch mayor is rather weak.

A typical mayor is a lawyer or administrative expert and is appointed for six years. The term of office can then be extended. Usually after some time he takes over the mayor's office in another municipality. He does not have to fulfill six years every time, it also depends on which church is currently free. Sometimes a mayor's office is a post or supply post for a minister whose national political career is drawing to a close. For others, like the Amsterdam job Cohen , the mayor's office can, conversely, be a stepping stone into national politics.

Wethouders

Hearing in Amsterdam City Hall with Wethouder De Cloe, 1975

A wethouder (literally: law holder) is usually a leading member of a local party, often the top candidate in local council elections. After the mayor's appointment as wethouder, his town council seat expires. A wethouder position can be set up as a part-time position. According to the law, a municipality can have as many wethouders as one twentieth of the municipality council members. The number of municipal council members depends on the number of inhabitants.

One of the wethouders , usually the main representative of the largest party in college , serves as the deputy mayor. The name for this is loco-burgemeester .

History until 2002

The forerunner of today's wethouders can be found in the time of the Batavian Republic (end of the 18th century) . In parishes with more than five thousand inhabitants there was a college with mayors and wethouders . The latter came from the vroedschap and were also elected by it. After the election they had to give up their membership in the vroedschap . When the Netherlands was part of the French Empire, the mayor received an assistant or two appointed by the prefect.

The college van burgemeester en wethouders of Batavia, today's Jakarta in Indonesia, 1930.

With the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1815, the office of wethouders disappeared until it was reintroduced in 1824. In the cities there were wethouders appointed by the king, and assessors in the countryside who were appointed by the provincial commissioner .

The municipal law of 1851, which goes back to the state reformer Thorbecke , gave wethouders and assessors the same position. They were elected from among the local council. There were at least two wethouders per community . Officially they were still only assistants to the mayor, whose position was also strong because he was responsible for internal security, and that was the most important task of a community at the time. However, a wethouder tended to have more influence in a large city than in the country.

In the period from 1880 to 1945 the area of ​​responsibility of the municipalities increased, especially with regard to social institutions. A wethouder just in a big city became more influential, and in general the community life became more politicized, parties were founded. Since 1931 there was again the term college , and the wethouder was no longer obliged to assist the mayor. Once again the development in the country was slower and the mayor was mostly still first among equals.

After 1945, the communities were given even more tasks, and there were even more frequent program colleges , community governments with a political tint, almost exclusively at the end of the 1960s. There was talk of wethouderssocialisme , and a commission found in 2004: “In many cases the first wethouder of the largest political party overshadowed the mayor.” In smaller communities this was less true, also because in communities with up to 18,000 inhabitants the wethouders only in Were employed part time.

Situation since 2002

Coalitievorming in Oude IJsselstreek : After the municipal council elections in March 2010, the top candidate of the largest party is
sounding out the ideas of the parties.

The social democratic-liberal cabinet formed in 1998 introduced dualism at community level ( Wet dualisering gemeentebestuur of March 2002). Since the introduction, a wethouder is no longer allowed to be a council member. In the Netherlands, dualism is the name given to the fact that the government faces parliament in the government. A minister is not allowed to be a member of parliament, even if, for example, he originally led his party in the election campaign.

In 2004, a commission published its report that the unbundling of college and local councils is insufficiently practical and is often ignored. Furthermore, it has a council fraction wethouders provides a large information advantage over other factions, and a Wethouder has a big impact on "his" faction. Although he is no longer allowed to be a member, many wethouders attend the parliamentary group meetings .

According to the commission, it is difficult for the local council to find its role as the one providing guidelines. In general, he appears more independent. Wethouders complain that the local council is too concerned with details and itself, and that a "culture of accounting" and power struggle has emerged. However, the final consequences of dualization can only be foreseen after two electoral terms, the commission judged.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, p. 17.
  2. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, p. 17.
  3. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, p. 18.
  4. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, pp. 17/18.
  5. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, p. 19.
  6. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, p. 24.
  7. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, p. 25.
  8. De positie van de wethouder. De toekomst van het verleden? Tweede jaarbericht van de begeleidingscommissie Vernieuwingsimpuls dualisme en locale democratie . VNG uitgeverij, o. O. 2004, p. 31.