New electoral system, cannabis experiment declared too controversial for fallen Cabinet
A majority in parliament has declared the regulated cannabis experiment and the new election system too controversial for the fallen Schoof I Cabinet to deal with. Bills and regulations on these topics will be postponed for a new Cabinet. The entire list of controversial topics contains over 40 items.
After the fall of a government, it is customary for parliament to draw up a list of issues that the caretaker Cabinet should leave alone. Last week, committee members gathered in smaller meetings to discuss hundreds of bills and letters to parliament to decide whether they should be on the list. The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, voted on it on Wednesday.
Topics that the caretaker Cabinet can continue working on include nitrogen and the higher NATO defense spending standard. Here, parliamentarians aceded to caretaker Prime Minister Dick Schoof’s request that the government keep working on security, housing, migration, and the economy.
An amendment to the Transgender Act that would make it easier for transgender people to change their gender on their identity documents seemed to make the controversial list, but the SGP managed to get it off the list at the last minute, NOS reported. The conservative Christian party wants the government to scrap the bill, and that won’t happen soon if it is declared controversial.
Another striking item, according to the broadcaster, is a bill that would make ProRail an independent administrative body. This bill has been on the controversial list of three consecutive fallen Cabinets. The plan dates from 2016, and the Rutte III Cabinet sent the bill to parliament in 2020. It has never been put to the vote and has now again been postponed to the next Cabinet.
Some other items on the controversial list include various letters about animal welfare, tackling barn fires, a higher personal contribution to the WMO benefit, the legal anchoring of the Schiphol Social Council, a CO2 ceiling for airports, plans to become climate neutral, banning fossil fuel advertising, and budget cuts on care for people with disabilities.
The list is not final. Parties can add or remove topics at any time.
At less than 50 controversial topics, the list is significantly shorter than for previous Cabinets. This is partly because the Schoof I Cabinet was in office for less than a year, so they had less time to submit bills and plans.
