News item | 07-07-2023 | 3:00 PM
The Council of Ministers has approved the legislative proposal on EU information provision to the States General (the Europe Act). By enshrining information agreements in law, the government wants to make EU decision-making more transparent for the Senate and the House of Representatives and citizens, and to make the results and added value of EU policy more visible. The ambition to draw up this law stems from the coalition agreement.
Until now, this obligation to provide information has been implemented on the basis of separate agreements that the Senate and the House of Representatives and the government have made in recent years on the basis of motions and commitments. This is done by means of BNC files, quarterly overviews, the annotated agenda and reports of (European) Council meetings. All these loose information agreements between the government and the Senate and House of Representatives will now be incorporated into one law: the Europe Act.
With the Europe Act, MPs should be able to monitor the work of the cabinet in the EU better and they can increase their influence on decision-making within the EU. The bill also states that the Minister of Foreign Affairs will report to both Houses of Parliament on the state of EU information provision every year.
The bill and the draft decree that will be based on it deal with three topics:
- Important principles for EU information provision;
- What information the Senate and House of Representatives receive from the government and how much time the government has for this;
- How to ensure that the quality of EU information is not only maintained, but also improved where necessary.
The Council of Ministers has agreed to send the bill to the Council of State for advice. The aim is to submit the bill to the House of Representatives in the autumn of 2023.