The Election Timeline: All key dates and events listed
Earlier than usual, elections are coming up again, and that has everything to do with the fall of the cabinet. On Nov. 22, the Netherlands may go to the polls again, due to an internal conflict within Rutte-IV. The coalition failed to agree on the cabinet's commitment to asylum policy. As a result, the parties from [...]
Netherlands must make cuts again, but climate train steams on
The Spring Memorandum is in the House of Representatives and that means that the discussion about the national debt and the government's spending is going to be held again. A change of course is underway, because after years of spending, the Netherlands is forced to make cuts. Indeed, the cabinet is facing a number of substantial setbacks. For example, it supports [...]
From the IBO Climate menu to a front-loaded Spring Note
Indeed, the Climate and Energy Outlook (KEV) 2022, released on Nov. 1 of last year, showed that the existing government plans for CO2 reduction do not yet add up to the desired goal of 55% reduction compared to 1990. This KEV is published every year to give just that insight into the CO2 reduction range of the proposed [...]
From Zeerijp to The Hague: What happens after the presentation of the report of the parliamentary committee of inquiry on gas extraction Groningen?
The Standing Parliamentary Committee for Economic Affairs and Climate is currently considering the report so that a Parliamentary debate can be prepared. The first step being taken is a round of written questions on March 23. At the press conference, Chairman Van der Lee announced that a debate in the House of Representatives will first [....]
The Publieke Zaken annual review 2022 - From crisis to crisis
This busy year, in which the number of challenges increased, Lower House Speaker Vera Bergkamp describes as "a year of great events. For example, Ukrainian President Zelensky addressed the Lower House. Never before had a foreign head of state addressed the Dutch parliament. In addition, parliamentary history was again made in October by the suspension of [...]
The parliamentary inquiry gas extraction Groningen : A retrospective
In the coming months, the committee of inquiry will work on its final report. This will incorporate the findings from the source research, the working visits, the private preliminary interviews, the requisitioned documents and the public hearings. In total, the committee requisitioned more than 600,000 documents from 47 organizations. It also conducted 124 private preliminary interviews and the committee went on a total of 5 working visits [...].
Budget Day 2022: Nothing new under the sun...?
"In the energy memorandum to be presented soon, the government proposes an integrated policy to slow the growth of consumption and increase the security of energy supply." It could easily have been said today during Budget Day. Were it not for the fact that this sentence from the 1974 Throne Speech [....]
Groningen gas extraction parliamentary inquiry
A tough tool The parliamentary inquiry is the toughest investigative tool available to the House of Representatives and allows for extensive research, document requests and interviews of those involved under oath. Dutch citizens summoned for questioning by the committee are required to appear. The tool is relatively rare; [...]
Hydrogen: what's ahead?
The market regulation: who does what? On March 23, the Ministry of Economic Affairs published the results of the public consultation on the market organization of hydrogen. The 48 responses showed that private and public parties differ in their views on what the organization of the market should look like. About the production of hydrogen and [...]
Influence on the 2022 budget: chess game on two boards
Today, Tuesday, Sept. 21, is Budget Day, the official opening of the parliamentary year and the presentation of the 2022 budget. This year is unlike any other. A new cabinet has been delayed since the March elections, leaving the current caretaker cabinet to make major decisions only with the support of the House of Representatives [....]