When the Council of State opens its doors on the Kneuterdijk, one shouts that ‘the establishment is here’, another praises ‘the good advice’

Is the Council of State a constitutional whining stocking? On Saturday afternoon, Ronald van den Tweel State Council asks his eighty listeners or the advice he and his colleagues about legislative proposals are predominantly negative. In the room, especially green sheets go into the air, a handful think it is not so bad and puts a red sheet in the air.

On the big screen behind him, a series of news heads had just passed by. For example, it was about the “destructive opinion” that the council would have given about a pension plan from NSC and BBB. About how the council had ‘cracked’ a bill for a new wealth tax.

But too negative? Van den Tweel has just explained together with a colleague how the council will come to advice. That it is not about the political preference of the law, but whether it is well put together. Whether that is right. And also whether that law is solving the problem that it aims to resolve.

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He puts a list and reads. Of the 337 legislative advice that the council wrote in 2024, 219 went back to the legislator without comments. At 94 the Council said: Dien ’em, but takes this or that into account. Only from 22 proposals did the council found that they should not be submitted, unless large parts would be adjusted. And but with two legislative proposals, the conclusion was: don’t start. He just wants to say: image and reality about the Council of State vary considerably. People are surprised in the room.

‘Rule of rule of law’

This weekend throughout the Netherlands, hundreds of monuments open its doors during the annual Heritage Day. The ‘Rule of rule of law’ in The Hague then hooks up: the Council of State, Court of Audit, Supreme Court, Data Protection Authority, both chambers, the National Ombudsman, the King’s Cabinet, Government and Council for the Judiciary Giving Access to their buildings and Palaces that are usually pretty close, what they are doing and why they do, and why they do and do.

There has been more discussion about the advice we give, so we should better explain the importance of how the system works

That is necessary, Van den Tweel realizes. “We have to make our role clearer than roughly twenty years ago, what our position is, what our role in the rule of law,” he says after his “Legislative Advisory Workshop.” “There has been more discussion about the advice we give, so we should better explain the importance of how the system works.” In society, he thinks, there is “insufficient picture of it.”

Janine Verbaan is also in the room (“just put down that I am eighty”) and her granddaughter Ruth Torn (23). They came from the Westland to the palace on the Kneuterdijk where the Council of State is sitting. They do not have to be convinced of the interests of the council. “That didn’t drop, you know,” says Verbaan.

They are there because Torn is almost finished with her law studies and he likes to work here. “Today I want to get clearer how it works here and what role the departments play.” That is why they also go to the ‘Administrative Jurisdiction workshop’, in which the other department of the council explains its work. That department, she says afterwards, appeals to her the most: “It seems interesting to hear objections from citizens. How do they relate to the law? And what solutions can we offer?”

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For example, hundreds of people wander through the corridors of the palace – once inhabited by King Willem II. In the ballroom, which he had built for his wife Anna Paulowna, they stare at the giant chandeliers. With cloak and crown on, people let people photograph themselves on a throne. Tourists with travel guides are under their arm, but also people who just want to know how it works here.

For example, they walk to the Gothic room, which Willem II had built to give his art collection a place. Yes, the ever-generated spokesperson Pieter-Beekman says during a ‘question but advice session’ with the audience: “This room is similar to what you see in Harry Potter. That is included in Christ Church, in Oxford. And this room is based on that.” Ask him who the chandeliers made, what happened to Willem II’s horse or what percentage of legislative advice is negative: with loving enthusiasm for the council, he thumps it up.

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Then he has a question for the room. “Who thinks that the cabinet now ignores more advice than before?” One man gets up. “Undoubtedly,” he says. “The Council of State is lost with society. It is all the establishment that is here. The advice has little to do with what lives among the people.” And, according to him, vice-chairman Thom de Graaff, “Die D66’er,” does not have that feeling for him. A man in a row before him gets up: “He has it! And the advice is good!”

Beekman looks at it and says: “This room would be a great boxing ring and you are both right. It is not about feeling, or the political sensitivity, or the political positions. It’s about testing laws: are they good? Cabinet and room can then do what they want. Our advice is a mirror.”

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