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THE HAGUE – Also on the second day of the General Political Considerations (APB), many Dutch people are annoyed by the way in which the government policy is discussed. Although in theory the parliamentarians should debate with each other in a general, political and reflective manner, in practice this turns out to be completely different. Speaker of the House Martin Bosma shares three points for improvement for parliament to be able to discuss the cabinet plans more effectively in the days after Budget Day.
Be general – Politicians have a strong tendency to focus on specific issues during the APB, such as asylum policy. For hours, terms such as asylum crisis, emergency legislation and opt-out are thrown around. Naturally, this is at the expense of other social themes that deserve attention during an APB, such as persistent noise pollution from padel courts or the ridiculously high price of a frikandel in the snack bar these days. That is why politicians would do well to broaden the APB. In short, make the discussion points more general in nature.
Talk about politics – In the APB, there is often a lack of political discussion. Many politicians prefer not to reply to colleagues on the content, but by means of a personal attack. Mud is slung at each other, voices are raised and fingers are pointed. Listeners in the House of Representatives like to stir things up a bit by amplifying the slurs with manual drumming. Of course, this is all completely unnecessary. The advice to parliamentarians is therefore to mainly deal with political subjects during the APB.
Be contemplative – Many members of the House of Representatives seem to feel an enormous need to convince others of their rightness or point of view. As a result, the story of politicians quickly takes on an argumentative form, while this is not the intention of the APB. A tip for both coalition and opposition members is therefore to keep their own story and their mutual debates primarily contemplative. In this way, more room is created for fruitful cooperation.
