European priorities

Introduction
The House of Representatives wants to keep a close watch on European plans and developments. What are the pros and cons for the Netherlands? Should the issue in question be dealt with on European or national level? The House of Representatives can set its European priorities and say to the government: give us extensive information on the subject.

Proposals from the European Commission
The House of Representatives sets its European priorities on the basis of the European Commission's annual working programme. At the end of March, the European Commission presented its 2010 working programme, containing European initiatives for the year to come. The standing committees of the House of Representatives examined the proposals and indicated which proposals should be given priority.

Subsidiarity
On Monday 19 April the standing committee on European affairs had a debate with Mr Maxime Verhagen, the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs, on the committee's list of European priorities. The House of Representatives wants to consider whether it is necessary to deal with issues like school drop-out and pensions at European level. The House can carry out a so-called subsidiarity test on such issues. This system includes yellow and orange cards.

Yellow card
If one third of the national parliaments of the EU member states are of the opinion that an issue should not be dealt with at European level, the European Commission is shown the "yellow card". The Commission then has to reconsider its proposal. If more than half of the parliaments of the European Union, as well as the Council of Ministers or the European Parliament should lodge objections to the proposal, the Commission may not further elaborate its proposal; the Commission is shown the "orange card". All this is laid down in the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force on 1 December 2009.

Parliamentary reservation
Moreover, the House of Representatives can express a so-called parliamentary reservation. The House has announced to do so with regard to the initiative for a European directive on the conditions of entry and residence of seasonal workers from third countries. The House then wants the government to provide extra and extensive information on the progress of the issue and asks the government not to take any decisions in Brussels before a debate with the House has taken place on the issue.

BNC file
Should the European Commission exercise its initiative, the government has to submit a so-called BNC-file to the House of Representatives. "BNC" stands for assessment of new proposals from the Commission. The BNC-file contains a brief description of the contents and the purpose of the proposal, its impact on Dutch society and the position of the Dutch government in the negotiations.

How does the Netherlands reach its position in the European Union?