Controversy Surrounds Netherlands’ New Pandemic Law

Face masks, mandatory quarantine and closing public spaces are allowed. School closures and a curfew are not allowed – or through a back door, right?

The measures that the cabinet can take in the event of a future pandemic – the ‘toolbox’ in political jargon – led to a lot of criticism, concern and emotion in the normally timid Senate on Monday and Tuesday. There, Minister Ernst Kuipers (Health Care, D66) spent hours defending his amendment to the Public Health Act (Wpg) – popularly known as the pandemic law or corona law. The Wpg gives the government the right to temporarily disable certain fundamental rights and to impose obligations (such as wearing a face mask or a quarantine obligation) in the event of a pandemic such as Covid-19.

The legislative amendment should ensure that the Netherlands is better prepared for a new pandemic and replaces all temporary laws to give the corona measures a legal basis. Last year, the Senate pushed for a well-thought-out permanent law.

It’s there now. But that did not lead to an enthusiastic response from the Senate. Last week, the senators asked about 1,300 written questions – after two previous rounds of questions – which still had to be answered quickly by the officials of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Kuipers also received a deluge of questions during the debate. Important point of criticism: the evaluation of the corona pandemic has yet to begin, it is unclear how effective the corona measures have been, but there is already a new law, including some of those measures. “It would have been cleaner to evaluate the corona measures first,” said PVV party leader Alexander van Hattem. “It is regrettable that the cabinet does not want to wait,” said Senator Diederik van Dijk (SGP).

Comparable criticism previously came from the Advisory Board on Regulatory Burden and the Dutch Safety Board (OVV). According to the OVV, the cabinet is missing an opportunity to make a “more informed assessment” in the event of a revival of the virus.

‘Measures in conjunction’

But according to Minister Kuipers, the effect of each measure cannot be evaluated separately, because several measures were always active at the same time. “The measures can therefore only be viewed in conjunction.”

It’s not a good law. It’s a cut and paste law

Peter Nicolai Senator PVD

The most controversial corona measures, such as school closures and curfews, are not explicitly included in the Wpg. But many parties, in addition to PVV and FVD, for example also SP and GroenLinks, fear that the cabinet will still bring it out through a so-called ’emergency power’ in the law, in the event of a violent pandemic. Kuipers did not rule that out: “That is possible in extreme cases.” According to him, this emergency power is “not used lightly”, only if a “disruptive social situation” arises. There is also an extensive procedure to be followed. “A black box from which the minister can choose himself,” concluded Rik Janssen (SP).

There are also concerns about whether the measures can also be removed from the law (“That is like taking candy from a child,” says Janssen), whether the social impact is sufficiently taken into account (more young people have been struggling with psychological problems and serious suicidal thoughts), and to what extent the senate will be able to block measures in the future.

While right-wing parties in particular fear that the measures will soon be conjured up easily, coalition parties are especially happy that measures are legally enshrined. “Finally a proposal,” said Greet Prins (CDA). “We need this law, despite all the flaws in it.”

Unrest in society

The amended law will lead to a lot of unrest in society, the senators said. One by one they received many emails. The question is whether the mailers are reassured after these two days of debate. “It makes me shudder,” said Van Dijk of the SGP, who referred to research by Statistics Netherlands last week that showed that the Dutch have less and less confidence in politics. “It’s way too complicated. As a legislative lawyer, I have had to study for hours and I am not yet sure that I know what it is,” said former top official at VWS Roel Bekker in a hearing with experts. “It’s not a good law. It is a cut and paste law,” concluded Peter Nicolaï (Party for the Animals).

It all led to a difficult legal process, with occasional unrest in the public gallery. The BoerBurgerBeweging – currently not represented in the Senate, but will be from the end of this month (with probably 17 of the 75 seats), did on Monday by mail a call to postpone the treatment: “Striking decisions are taken at the last minute,” wrote party leader Caroline van der Plas. “This deprives our future group of exercising the democratic mandate in important decisions for the Netherlands.” The new Senate will be installed on 30 May.