The House of Representatives management wants to punish MPs who violate rules more severely

Until now, the Speaker of the House had no options to force MPs to adhere to the rules. That will change now. Bosma now writes to the House that an MP is obliged to change his behavior if requested to do so. If the MP does not do this, he violates the code of conduct and there is a penalty for this.

The proposal is separate from yesterday’s incident in which FVD leader Thierry Baudet allegedly threatened his fellow MP Jesse Klaver. With this change to parliament’s own rules, the presidency hopes to gain more control over MPs who do not adhere to the rules. At the end of last year, for example, Baudet and his fellow party members Jansen and Van Meijeren were suspended for a week because they refused to give up their secondary positions.

Suspension

At the same time, that suspension did not lead to the FVD MPs adhering to the rules. After the suspension they simply returned to business as usual. According to D66 MP Joost Sneller, this is no longer possible with this tightening of the rules.

“Finally, the impunity of MPs who turn a blind eye to the rules that parliament has established is coming to an end,” says Sneller. “It will soon no longer be possible for members of the House of Representatives to deliberately conceal what additional positions they have with impunity.”

‘Smarter punishment’

Sneller calls the presidency’s proposal a ‘smarter way of punishing’. According to him, it is an important step to give voters more clarity about the interests that may influence the behavior of parliamentarians. That is essential for the prestige of the House.’

The letter from the presidency comes at a time when Czech media are reporting that European politicians have received money from Russia to spread Russian propaganda. Czech intelligence services have dismantled a network that spread Russian propaganda in Europe, via the Voice of Europe news site.

This happened with money from Moscow, says Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. According to the Czech news site Denik N, Dutch politicians are also involved in the pro-Russian news site Voice of Europe. The article mentions FVD faction leader Baudet and FVD European parliamentarian De Graaff. Baudet is said to have been interviewed, De Graaff employs an employee who is the subject of investigation.