From Friday 22 September until Monday 25 September Mr Anne Mulder MP (VVD) will act as an observer at the parliamentary elections in Germany. On behalf of the Senate and the House of Representatives Mr Mulder takes part in an observer mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA).
On Wednesday 9 August 2017, the leaders of VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie have continued their preliminary talks aimed at forming a coalition government in the Netherlands. These talks are presided by Informateur Gerrit Zalm.
Saturday 9th September 2017, the House of Representatvies opens its doors for Heritage Day (Open Monumentendag). Visitors are welcome to see the Old Library and the Chamber of the House.
Thursday, 6 July, was the last sitting day of the House of Representatives before the summer recess. On that last day, the House often sits late into the night, but this year, due to the ongoing Cabinet formation, the House's schedule was less packed than usual in the weeks before the summer recess. The House is in recess up to and including Monday 4 September. The first plenary sitting after the summer will take place on Tuesday, 5 September. In the meantime, the negotiations on the formation of a new Cabinet will continue, except for a short holiday break.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, 6 June 2017, Informateur Herman Tjeenk Willink held discussions with party leaders Mark Rutte (VVD), Sybrand van Haersma Buma (CDA) and Alexander Pechtold (D66) regarding continuing the process of forming a new government. The meeting was held in the Stadholder’s Room in the House of Representatives. Earlier in the day, the Informateur held discussions with Jesse Klaver (GroenLinks) and Gert-Jan Segers (ChristenUnie).
On Wednesday 17 May 2017, the House of Representatives reappointed Edith Schippers as informateur in the Cabinet formation process, in a debate on the foundered negotiations between the parliamentary groups VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks. Schippers was assigned the task to investigate, in the short term, the various possibilities for the formation of a new Cabinet that can rely on a productive co-operation with both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Khadija Arib will inform His Majesty the King on the outcome of the debate.
The rules for non-disclosure of internal documents of the Council of Ministers of the European Union, including documents concerning new European legislation, are contrary to the Lisbon Treaty. That is what the parliamentary counsel concluded in an advice to the House of Representatives. A strong information position for MPs is one of the spearheads of the House of Representatives, hence the House asked the parliamentary counsel to prepare a legal analysis of public access to internal Council documents. This was done on the basis of the findings of the rapporteur on the provision of EU information, Mr Pieter Omtzigt MP (CDA).
Guarantee the rights of Dutch citizens in the United Kingdom and preserve the close trading relationship with the United Kingdom. Those are two of a total of five recommendations in the report delivered by Marit Maij (former Member of Parliament for the PvdA) and Pieter Omtzigt (Member of Parliament for the CDA) on Tuesday 21 March 2017 about the intended exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU).
In the plenary debate on the election results held on Tuesday 28 March 2017, the House of Representatives appointed Ms Edith Schippers as informateur, to begin the process of forming a new Cabinet. She has been instructed to investigate whether a stable government of VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks is possible.
On 27 March, the President of the House of Representatives, Khadija Arib, received the report of scout Edith Schippers.
