The typical exuberance of Prinsjesdag is hard to find today. Nevertheless, parliamentary democracy has cause for a small celebration.
Today, Budget Day 2020, will not be a festive day. At least, who measures that by the lack of flags on the street, the cheerful school children or the fans who want to catch a glimpse of Queen Máxima’s dress and hat. It will even be the strangest Budget Day in ages. There is no carriage ride, no landing scene at Noordeinde Palace.
There will, however, be MPs who wear a Prinsjesdag-face mask on the bus to the Grote Kerk. Where the seats are one and a half meters away, and dozens of places remain empty because colleagues have canceled. With large bulkheads around the church that prevent the public from seeing the king arriving in an ordinary car this year.
This third Tuesday in September is special for another reason. The 2020 edition can be seen as a pivotal moment, the symbolic end of a period in which the Senate and the House of Representatives, like the rest of the country, withdrew in the spring to Zoom, the Microsoft Teams and other digital meetings. With millions of Dutch people, democracy also went into quarantine for a while.
It is partly thanks to chairman Khadija Arib that the House of Representatives came out of this quarantine in a healthy way. She has again filled the agenda with numerous debates, which are no longer just about corona-related matters. For example, a large part of the power that the ministers took over in times of crisis has returned to the House. Where it belongs.
The Chamber is no longer on the sidelines
In the coming six months, the parties will no longer tolerate having to sit on the sidelines to see how the dominant cabinet determines the corona policy. Not even if there is a second major outbreak. The March 2021 elections are approaching. The unofficial campaign has started when the House of Representatives debates the government’s plans with the government tomorrow.
And there are enough nuts to crack. The cabinet proposal for a corona law has been submitted to the Lower House, with which the political groups, including the coalition, are still far from satisfied. Should the virus flare up even further, all restrictions on freedoms must be better anchored in legislation, there is no discussion about this at the Binnenhof. There is, however, a discussion about the great powers that ministers still have in law. The House wants to be able to judge that.
Another issue is the parliamentary right to participate in decisions about large expenditures. That was jeopardized in recent months, even though there was a decent vote on the extra corona expenditure and emergency packages. And that is all the more urgent now that new billion dollar support is on the way, and parties are drawing up their election programs.
Opposition dissatisfaction with Wopke and Wiebes
PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher expressed opposition dissatisfaction about this, at the presentation of the National Growth Fund (popularly known as the 20 billion of “Wopke en Wiebes”). Asscher finds it “unthinkable” that the House should hardly be allowed to participate in the discussion about the expenditure of tens of billions of public money. This also applies to the conditions under which companies receive a new round of emergency aid. Here, too, the House is demanding more say, with a view to the job security of employees, especially the elderly and flex workers.
Budget Day and the 2020 Budget Memorandum are surrounded by great uncertainties in the forecasts about the economy and the course of the pandemic. Both government and parliament will have to learn to live with that. Prime Minister Rutte is well aware that his cabinet no longer has a self-evident majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. During Wednesday and Thursday’s General Discussions, he will need the support of the opposition more than ever for his crisis response. This makes it a bit of a celebration for parliamentary democracy.
Also read:
The man of “Long live the King”: “The soul of Prinsjesdag, which remains”
Prinsjesdag also has to change due to the corona crisis. The chairman of the Senate, Jan Anthonie Bruijn, was looking for new ways, with respect for tradition and ceremonial.
No driving tour, Knight’s Hall and Orange fans: that’s what Prinsjesdag looks like this year
Like everything in 2020, Prinsjesdag Tuesday will also be slightly different than usual. This year no driving tour, no balcony scene and no Orange fans.
