House of Representatives news

What impact will Brexit, the UK's exit from the European Union, have on the Netherlands? The standing committee on European affairs want to get a clear picture of this. That is why on Monday 6 February 2017 a delegation of the committee visited London. The programme included talks with representatives from international think tanks, British parliamentarians and the Minster of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, Mr David Jones.

Which issues will the European Commission focus on in 2017? Which of these priorities will be given special attention by the House of Representatives? On Tuesday 20 December 2016, the House drew up it annual list of European priorities, by means of a vote in the Plenary Hall.

The House of Representatives will conduct its very first parliamentary interrogation, a recently introduced shortened parliamentary inquiry. On Wednesday 14 December 2016 the Parliamentary committee of inquiry into Tax structures designated Mr Ed Groot to chair the committee.

The Dutch House of Representatives has a new app: Debat Direct (Debate Direct). With Debat Direct, a single click allows you to watch debates in the Dutch House of Representatives live on your smartphone, tablet or computer.

On Tuesday 8 November 2016 Dutch MPs Harry van Bommel (Socialist Party) and Fred Teeven (liberal VVD) were active as observers at the US presidential elections. They took part in an election observation mission carried out by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), monitoring a fair course of the electoral contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

In order to gain more insight into the Dutch-Turkish community the standing committee on Social Affairs and Employment organised a hearing with various representatives from Dutch-Turkish organizations on 10 October 2016. On Wednesday 5 October a round-table discussion had already been held with experts and scientists.

The Dutch parliament released an e-zine that gives an impression of the parliamentary activities that took place during the Netherlands' EU Presidency.

In the first half of 2016, the Netherlands is holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The final interparliamentary conference of this EU Presidency took place on Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 June 2016.

At the opening of the sitting of the House on Tuesday 21 July, the Speaker of the House, Ms Khadija Arib, expressed her condolences on behalf of the House, following the murder of Jo Cox, a Labour Party politician.

On Monday 23 May, Brussels welcomed Martijn van Helvert (CDA) and Salima Belhaj (D66), the two Single European Sky (SES) rapporteurs from the Infrastructure and Environment Committee. The rapporteurs visited on behalf of the Parliamentary Committee to discuss the obstacles hindering the creation of a single European airspace.

The issue of welfare in a broad sense deserves greater attention in the political debate. That is why the Temporary Committee on a Broad Definition of Welfare recommends that the Cabinet ask Statistics Netherlands to publish a Monitor on Welfare on an annual basis. On Wednesday 20 April 2016 the Committee presented the report Mapping Welfare.

Members of the standing committee on Foreign Affairs will pay a visit to Ukraine from Sunday 20 March unit Tuesday 22 March. In The Ukrainian capital Kiev they will hold talks about the association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine with members of the Ukrainian parliament and representatives of the Government.

Members of Parliament from the EU Member States gathered on 14 March in the Hall of Knights for the third interparliamentary conference organised by the States General as part of the Dutch EU Presidency. The focus of this conference was the question of what the influence is of continuing digitisation – has the internet changed patterns in human trafficking, and how can we use internet to protect victims and prosecute perpetrators? During the conference, attention was also drawn to the problem of migration which is currently a very hot issue among politicians and the general public.

On Thursday 28 January the House of Representatives held a public hearing and a videoconference on the Dutch Safety board's MH17 investigation report. Several international civil aviation experts were heard.

On 13 January, ms. Khadija Arib (PvdA) was elected the new Speaker of the House