Scrutiny & control in EU affairs : the Dutch parliament

This research analyzes the formal Dutch structures and the reality regarding the Dutch parliament and their scrutiny and control tasks in the EU decision making process. The aim of the research is to find out in which stages of the decision making process the parliament can effectively scrutinize and control the government, and in which stages there is room for improvement. The first sub question answered what, in general, scrutiny and control for parliaments are and what role the government plays in this process. The second sub question analyzed the specific Dutch system, which rules and mechanisms are formally in place to enable the Dutch parliament to scrutinize and control. The last sub question entailed the analysis of the research. Here the actual situation of the Dutch system was analyzed. The analysis was done by interviews with six respondents. The respondents provided insight in the system and evaluated the mechanisms in each stage of the decision making process. Strong points of the Dutch system were the structure and opportunities for parliament to request and discuss information. Improvements can be made in the field of timeliness and quality of the information in several stages.