Geerten Boogaard: 'Netherlands moving towards constitutional court'
The House of Representatives in the Netherlands has requested advice from the Council of State about combining membership of the House of Representatives with holding a post in the cabinet. Geerten Boogaard sees this as a sign that the Netherlands is moving towards a constitutional court.
A constitutional court can check whether legislation and treaties are in conflict with the Constitution. Germany, for example, already has such a court: the Bundesverfassungsgericht. Professor of Local Government Geerten Boogaard is in favour of the movement towards a constitutional court. 'Ideally, it would take the form of public proceedings’, he writes (in Dutch) on his LinkedIn page.
Boogaard envisages that those who oppose the combination of being an MP as well as a cabinet member, including professors Bert van den Braak and Wim Voermans, would enter into dialogue with a proponent from the administration. Subsequently, an authoritative advice would be provided by the Advisory Division of the Council of State.