Citizens' initiative

A citizen’s initiative is an elaborated proposal, for instance to improve the environment, the educational system or public transport. Or to simplify a rule or even do away with it. When submitting a proposal, please ensure to state its goal and why and how you intend to achieve it. For your proposal to be accepted for consideration you need to gather signatures from at least 40,000 people supporting it.

• Your proposal has to be about something new: the item did not figure on the agenda of the House of Representatives in the past two years.
• Your proposal must fall within the competence of the House of Representatives, i.e. it must relate to a national government issue and not to local government issues or any private matter.
• Your proposal should not be inconsistent with norms and values that are deeply rooted in Dutch society.
• Your proposal may not pertain to the Constitution, to taxation or budget bills.

First citizen’s initiative to be considered
In April 2007 the standing committee on Petitions and Citizens’ Initiatives gave green light to consideration by the House of Representatives of the citizens’ initiative “Stop wrong meat”. The proposal was put forward on the initiative of Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie) and its independent youth department, Jongeren Milieu Aktief (JMA); 106,975 Dutch people backed it. For the first time in Dutch parliamentary history a proposal emerging from society was directly placed on the political agenda.

“Stop wrong meat”
With their citizen’s initiative “Stop wrong meat”, Friends of the Earth Netherlands and JMA want the House of Representatives to opt for animal farming without animal suffering, without environmental pollution and without import of soy feed, which is said to be produced at the expense of the Amazon forest. Their aim is a shift to sustainable meat production. The House of Representatives has commissioned research into the socio-economic impact of implementing the proposal and its effects on nature and the environment. This research is being carried out by the Netherlands bureau for economic policy analysis (CPB) and the Netherlands environmental assessment agency (NMP). The results are due after the summer recess. Subsequently, the standing committee on Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality will discuss the results with Friends of the Earth Netherlands and JMA. Eventually, the proposal will be submitted to the House of Representatives for voting.

If the committee deems that your proposal meets all the requirements, the House of Representatives may consider your initiative. You may then be requested to shed some more light on it. In the end, however, it is up to the House of Representatives whether or not to adopt your proposal. In case the proposal is adopted, it will be submitted to the cabinet, who is responsible for it being carried out.