Artikel 69: Presence of ministers and state secretaries
- Ministers and State Secretaries shall have the right to attend sittings of the States General and may take part in the deliberations.
- They may be invited to be present at sittings of the Houses of the States General meeting either separately or in joint session.
- They may be assisted at the sittings by persons nominated by them.
Explanation
Please note: Only the Dutch-language version of the Constitution has legal effect.
Ministers and Secretaries of State have access to the meetings of the House of Representatives and the Senate and may participate in the deliberations. The Houses may require their presence, but the government itself determines who speaks on its behalf.
Ministers and Secretaries of State may be assisted by, for example, civil servants or government commissioners. This was the case, for instance, during the consideration of the proposals for constitutional revision in the period 1976–1982, when Government Commissioner Simons regularly spoke.