Almost Holy Constitution in the Senate

An amendment to the law, taken up in the coalition agreement and passed with the convincing approval of the House of Representatives, creates tension in the Senate and in the coalition. Next week, the Senate will debate the long-standing wish, or even the motive for the existence, of the D66. Removing the appointment of mayors from the constitution "by royal decree" should pave the way for democratically elected mayors.

But a late lobbying attempt by the current mayors shows "that they think there is something to gain here". , observes a Senator GroenLinks. Tuesday leaked a letter that 31 mayors sent to the Senate. They invite senators to abolish the law of the leader of D66, Rob Jetten. They fear that "the local government will become a toy in the problems of the day".

Read also: Mayors: Keep the Constitution

After almost unanimous support in the House of Representatives, such an offensive seems to have no chance, but it is not for many reasons. The Senate is formally not bound by the coalition agreement. Moreover, the Senate is still extremely critical of the laws of the members of the lower house. And the constitution is a little more sacred than the other side of the Binnenhof. "We are looking more closely at the consequences of the legislation here," said VVD Senator Helmi Huijbregts. "And they are still far from clear in this case." Janny Vlietstra (PvdA) wonders "what major social problem is solved"

Two amendments are needed for a constitutional amendment, by a two-thirds majority of the votes. It takes 50 of the 75 senators. These are not guaranteed on the basis of the first reading, in 2015. The CDA and ChristenUnie voted against, the PvdA was very divided. The VVD conferred on Denoog's partner D66 the benefit of the doubt, but explicitly without the promise of the second round to vote as well.

One of the criticisms is that Proposition D66 keeps the king away from the appointment process, but does not describe how mayors should be appointed. Since the beginning of this century, the practice has been that mayors are no longer from The Hague, but that city councils designate them after an application process. The Jetten proposal does not change this method, but facilitates the holding of mayoral elections in the future – with a simple majority in both chambers.

Van Thijn's Night

Rob Jetten wants it. now absolutely not gone. In its proposal, the nomination procedure was deliberately dissociated from the wish to directly choose the mayors. This combination caused a major political trauma in his party. In 2005, Minister Thom de Graaf (Administrative Renewal, D66) was killed after the Labor Party passed its plan in the Senate on the night of Van Thijn. De Graaf was accused too early because he associated with the constitutional amendment a proposal concerning the mayor elected directly by the population.

Jetten is "confident" that he can convince the Senate. But he agrees with critics "that there must first be a substantive debate on the mayor's position".

In their lobbying letter, the mayors declare that "deconstitutionalization" can only take place after a thorough substantive discussion on our office. "The question is which party of senators have chosen. [19659002] The arguments for and against the constitutional amendment have not changed in recent years, but the political reality is: D66 received support during the training last year, in exchange for its cooperation for the abolition of the consultative referendum, the minister of the D66, Kajsa Ollongren (Home Affairs) did so quickly, with the good consent of all the senators of the D66.

This reality means that the ChristenUnie will agree with the plan and the VVD members "are forced to search for the light", as Huijbregts expresses his positive attitude, although his group is certainly not full. pr 1st chamber, Ankie Broekers, said Tuesday on Radio 4 that she "can perfectly understand the feeling of these mayors".

We do not know what the CDA and the PvdA will do. The people of PvdA are silent. At CDA, the highly critical Sophie van Bijsterveld has recently been replaced by Ton Rombouts as a spokesperson. But according to him, this can not be seen as a capitulation. The proposal is "difficult" in his group, said the former mayor of Den Bosch

In the vote that lasted two weeks, the D66 can take a historic step. Never before has the party set up for administrative renewal successfully changed the constitution. If that does not work, it will be a warning that will affect the entire coalition.

However, it takes more opponents than senators CDA (12), PvdA (8) and SGP (2) to draw on the proposal. The fact that these three can no longer stop a constitutional amendment is also the current political reality.