ChristenUnie leader Miriam Becker and Volt party leader Laurence Dassen wrote the initiative note, which also calls for discussions about policy visions and making the creation of legislation more transparent. All of these things should, among other things, serve to restore confidence in politics.
a more complex world
But the important point is to increase the current number of members of the House of Representatives.
“Compared to other European countries, the Dutch electorate is poorly represented and receives the least democratic value for their vote. The population of the Netherlands is growing, there are more and more ministers, society is more diverse, and there are more international and world commitments.” It is becoming increasingly complex. Despite these changes, the number of MPs has remained the same since 1956 at 150.
From 11 to 17 million
The number of members of Parliament was last increased in 1956, from 100 to 150. At that time the population of the Netherlands was 11 million, now it is over 17 million. Baker and Dassen believe that the representative function of MPs has increased, “in part because of a greater diversity of views, habits and interests in society”. By adding at least 100 MPs, according to Becker and Dasen, parliamentarians can do their duties better.
Amending the constitution is required to expand the House of Representatives. This must be approved by two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate. So there is still a long way to go.
More support too
The current parties in the House of Representatives are divided over this proposal. “Our parliament is relatively small compared to other countries,” says MP Nicole Temminck. “So having a larger house is not a strange idea in that sense.” It also wants to boost support for MPs to “review laws and historical political research”.
Rep. Joost Sneller says D66 also feels something about it: “We’re certainly open to investigations into Bigger Room and its potential effectiveness.” GroenLinks and PvdA have already stated in the past that they are not opposed to expansion. The Party for the Animals also supports this proposal.
Umtzigt said last week on Humberto’s TV show that Peter Umzigt, the leader of the New Social Contract party, also supports an increase in the number of parliamentarians. It is desirable to expand it to 200 deputies.
A lot of money for telecom
The current ruling party, the VVD, is not currently in favor of this. The BBB does not endorse this either.
“For us, the problem is not so much the size as the support of MPs for the army of civil servants provided by the ministries. However, there is also another aspect: many political groups spend too little money on policy officers and too much indirect costs and communication.”
Professor: ‘Merging the Senate and House of Representatives’
Professor of constitutional and administrative law Willem Formans supports an increase in the number of representatives. “The Netherlands has very few members of parliament, even if we compare it with the countries around us. There is a formula for the ideal number of deputies. According to this calculation, the Netherlands should have about 225 deputies. I am therefore in favor, among other things,” to merge the two Houses of Representatives and elders. Then it ends up with 225 deputies. They’ve also done it in Denmark, Sweden and Norway and it’s doing really well there.”
