News item | 31-01-2025 | 14:51
On the proposal of Minister Uitermark of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Council of Ministers approved the Bill Promote Integrity of Decentralized Governance. Assuming the integrity of aldermen, deputies, members of the daily management of water boards and island deputies requires clear rules and a clear procedure. This bill makes a contribution to this by, among other things, making a risk analysis for an appointment. The bill is now sent to the Council of State for advice.
Minister Uitermark: “A well -functioning and honest public administration is crucial for society and of great importance for the trust of people in politics. An important moment to pay attention to the integrity of directors is before they are appointed. Fortunately, this is already happening with many decentralized authorities. With this bill we record that this will happen from every appointment and we ensure clear rules about how that should happen. ”
Most provinces, municipalities and water boards already perform a risk analysis before a new driver is appointed. We look at issues such as other positions or financial interests. With this, potential risks and vulnerabilities are mapped. With the bill, the minister now wants to make such an approach mandatory.
The bill indicates which integrity aspects can be looked at. In addition, it is recorded which sources may be used, such as a questionnaire and public sources. Furthermore, the bill provides the candidate directors clarity about how personal information is handled and who has what role in this process. In this way, candidate managers know better what awaits them.
The proposal also provides clarity about how decentralized directors should deal with their possible financial interests. A director is deemed to represent the public interest from his office. By having certain financial interests, the risk can arise that they cannot be reconciled with a good performance of the function. The proposal therefore states that directors should not have financial interests that collide with their task.
In addition to the bill, it is for municipalities, provinces, water boards and public bodies Handbook Integrity available. This helps decentralized governments, political parties and political office holders in promoting their integrity policy and makes clear what is or is not allowed. In addition, the guide for dealing with (suspicions of) integrity violations was recently issued. Finally, work is being done on quality requirements in the event that an investigation is conducted in response to a possible integrity violation.