At the presentation in November, it sounds that the liberal ruling party has moved to the left. That only applies to the economy: the party wants to polish the “frayed edges of capitalism”. In the area of law, security and migration, the VVD is leaning towards populist parties, which compete with the VVD on the right flank. The election program, for example, exudes suspicion against judges who “intervene directly and drastically in democratically taken decisions”. International courts of law are also guilty of this, according to the liberal program writers.
These passages went too far for many members. Last week, groups of VVD members discussed the themes in separate sessions. They will vote on the most controversial topics at the General Members Meeting on Saturday. How many these are is not yet known. The party confirms that party chairman Klaas Dijkhoff and his program team are rewriting the paragraph on the rule of law on Friday.
Foundations of the rule of law
One of the disputed proposals is that rulings of the European Court of Human Rights may be corrected by the member states of the Council of Europe, if those rulings “run counter to their intention”. In principle, the VVD violates the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary. These are the foundations of a constitutional state. It is remarkable that within the EU, the Netherlands is very critical of countries such as Hungary and Poland, where violations of the rule of law are commonplace.
The VVD also wants to limit the testing of Dutch legislation against international treaties. The party believes, for example, that the judge in the Urgenda judgment forced politics to make different choices. That groundbreaking case from 2015 was about accelerating climate policy. The judge tested against a European human right. The Dutch Constitution prohibits the testing of laws against the own Constitution. According to the VVD, foundations such as Urgenda should also have less easy access to justice.
According to critical VVD member Erik Verweij, who attended the session on the rule of law, there is mainly difference of opinion among the members about the type of problem for which the proposals form a solution. He himself does not think that judges are beyond their control. He is, however, in favor of introducing a constitutional review. According to him, this would “increase the acceptance of judicial decisions”. Partly due to political parties such as Forum for Democracy, distrust of the judiciary has been put on the agenda.
Dutch law is closely intertwined with international law
The VVD is not the only one who wants to introduce testing against the Constitution. That would protect against abuse of power by the government; opponents believe that parliament can also perform this task perfectly. Several parties, such as D66, have this in their election program. It is an old idea, for which former MP Femke Halsema proposed a constitutional amendment at the beginning of this century. It did not make it, partly thanks to the VVD.
Many lawyers believe that such an assessment against the Constitution will make little difference in practice, because Dutch law is closely intertwined with international law. Many of the basic rights of citizens are laid down in it, usually more extensive and more concrete than in the Dutch Constitution.
Also read:
“VVD election program wants to demolish the rule of law”
The VVD proposes to abolish independent judiciary, states attorney and candidate-member of parliament for D66 Sidney Smeets in this opinion piece.
