Ministerial responsibility is a core concept in Dutch constitutional law. Thorbecke, commissioned by King Willem II, designed the ministerial responsibility which was included in the Dutch Constitution in 1848. The establishment of this ministerial responsibility in the Constitution is the origin of Dutch parliamentary democracy. The meaning of political ministerial responsibility is laid down in Article 42 of the Dutch Constitution and states that ministers are responsible for the actions and omissions of the King; the King is inviolable. However, the size or scope of ministerial responsibility extends much further; The ministers are not only responsible for the King’s actions, but they are responsible for the entire office over which they are in charge. Moreover, ministers can be held responsible to a certain extent for the other members of the Royal House.
Ministerial responsibility: its meaning, origin and scope
- What is the meaning of ministerial responsibility?
- Origin of ministerial responsibility in the Constitution of 1848
- Criminal ministerial responsibility
- Ministerial responsibility & the rule of confidence
- What is the extent of the political ministerial responsibility?
- The king
- Ministers
- Civil service
- Members of the Royal House
What is the meaning of ministerial responsibility?
The meaning of (political) ministerial responsibility is that a minister must be accountable for all actions and omissions that can be attributed to the minister in question. A minister is responsible for the ministry under his or her supervision. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate (together called the ‘parliament’) have the option to jointly or separately hold the cabinet or a minister to account . Although according to the law it seems as if the minister’s responsibility only applies to the King, in practice this responsibility also applies to the ministers, the civil service and the other members of the Royal House. The basis of ministerial responsibility is laid down in Article 42 paragraph 2 of the Dutch Constitution:
,The King is inviolable; the ministers are responsible, (Article 42(2) of the Constitution).
Origin of ministerial responsibility in the Constitution of 1848
The origin of ministerial responsibility can be found in the Constitution of 1848. The Dutch constitutional amendment in 1848 led to the emergence of today’s parliamentary democracy. Before that time, a minister was a servant of the King without authority or responsibility. With these constitutional amendments, a minister was given responsibility for his office. Later, the office of State Secretary also emerged as an independent office.
Criminal ministerial responsibility
In the 1983 constitutional amendment, criminal ministerial responsibility was abolished and has never been reintroduced in the Netherlands. In contemporary practice, this means that a minister cannot be held responsible in the event of criminal action by the King. Today we only have a political ministerial responsibility , which is simply called ‘ministerial responsibility’.
Ministerial responsibility & the rule of confidence
The political ministerial responsibility is laid down in the Constitution and is a realization of the unwritten rule of trust. The unwritten rule of confidence means that the cabinet and its ministers enjoy the confidence of parliament at the time of taking office. If one of the Houses believes that trust has been violated, it can submit a motion of no confidence, which will lead to the resignation of the minister or the entire cabinet in question, or to the dissolution of the House . The confidence rule is not part of the (political) ministerial responsibility, but can be seen as the negative consequence that can be associated with it.
What is the extent of the political ministerial responsibility?
The extent of the political ministerial responsibility is determined by all the minister’s powers . The minister must be accountable to parliament for both his own powers and the powers of his/her subordinates. This may involve an ‘action’ : an activity that someone carries out, or an ‘omission’ : an activity that someone does not carry out but could carry out. Both actions and omissions are part of the ministerial responsibility of the minister.
The scope of the (political ) ministerial responsibility concerns:
- the actions and omissions of the King;
- the actions and omissions of the ministers;
- the actions and omissions of the civil service, and;
- the actions and omissions of the members of the Royal House.
The king
The (political) ministerial responsibility is evident from Article 42 paragraph 2 of the Dutch Constitution. This article describes the immunity of the King : the ministers are responsible for all the King’s actions and omissions. This (political) ministerial responsibility includes the actions and omissions of the King as Head of State , as a member of the government (consisting of the ministers and the King), and as a unique person in his private life .
Private life of the King
The minister is only responsible for the private life of the King insofar as this endangers the public interest . The minister of the office to which the King’s actions relate can therefore be held directly accountable by parliament (the Senate and the House of Representatives). The King himself cannot be held accountable for his own actions now that the King is politically inviolable .
Ministers
The minister is also responsible for his state secretary and other ministers working for his ministry. The minister is responsible for both the powers of the minister himself and for the powers of his state secretary. After all, the minister is responsible for the entire ministry over which the minister is in charge.
Civil service
The (political) ministerial responsibility has no culpability criterion . This means that the minister can be held responsible for the entire office over which the minister is authorized to make decisions, including everything that is not attributable to the minister himself. The minister is responsible for all the actions and omissions of those working in the ministry over which the minister is in charge: the minister can therefore also be held accountable by the Houses for all the actions and omissions of the minister’s
subordinates .
Members of the Royal House
The (political) ministerial responsibility also applies to the heir apparent and the other members of the Royal House . The responsibility of a minister for the members of the Royal House is referred to as a ‘ derived responsibility ‘, because nothing about this is laid down in the Constitution. Because the actions of the members of the Royal House can influence the position of the King both positively and negatively , the minister can be held accountable for this. This derived responsibility concerns the members of the Royal House except the King.
Respect of the monarchy
Although (political) ministerial responsibility applies to all members of the Royal House, the minister is not held equally responsible for all of them . A minister is held to a higher degree responsible for the actions and omissions of members that are related to the exercise of the King’s functions. The minister has a political ministerial responsibility for conduct that could damage the reputation of the monarchy.
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- Meaning of the rule of confidence & the motion of no confidence
- Democracy: its different forms and views
- What are the characteristics of a constitutional state?
- Why does Dutch law exist?
- Forms of government: (semi)presidential and parliamentary system