ECPRD Seminar in The Hague

On 5 and 6 November, the Eerste Kamer and Tweede Kamer (the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives) host a ECPRD seminar titled “The practicalities, advantages and disadvantages of unicameral and bicameral parliamentary systems”.

ECPRD in The Hague
All participants of the ECPRD Seminar gather on the centuries-old Inner Court (Binnenhof), which connects the premises of the Dutch Senate to those of the Dutch House of Representatives

Participants come from European countries like Norway, Croatia, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Poland. During the seminar they will focus on the following topics:

  • How is the unicameralism or bicameralism laid down in the constitutions and in the rules of procedure?
  • How are parliament’s major duties (e.g. legislation, scrutinizing the work of the government, second reading, representation of regions) carried out in unicameral and in bicameral systems?
  • What are the specific duties of the Senates in bicameral systems and how is the “Senate-role” organised in unicameral Parliaments?
  • What are the experiences of unicameral Parliaments that changed to a bicameral system (or vice versa) and how did the parliamentary administration change accordingly?
  • The European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD) is a parliamentary network which was founded in 1977. The Centre aims to facilitate the exchange of information, ideas, and experiences between the administrations of parliaments in Europe.