The Estates-General (Staten-Generaal) is the parliament of the Netherlands. It consists of two chambers, the most important of which is the Tweede Kamer (the Second Chamber or Lower House). The Eerste Kamer (the First Chamber or Upper House) is also known as the Senate. The meeting rooms of the Staten-Generaal are located at the Binnenhof (Inner Court), all in the Hague.
Historically the convocation of the Estates-General (Staten-Generaal), consisted of delegates from the provincial estates, and dated from about the middle of the 15th century, under the rule of the dukes of Burgundy. The name was transferred, after the separation of the northern Netherlands from the Spanish dominions, to the representatives elected by the seven sovereign provincial estates for the general government of the United Provinces. The States-General, in which the voting was by provinces - each province having one vote - was established from 1593.
The States-General in this form came to an end after the revolution in 1795, with the proclamation of the Batavian Republic and the subsequent convocation of the National Assembly (March 1, 1796). The title of Staten-Generaal, however, continued in the title of subsequent Netherlands parliaments.
Dutch members of parliament are not surprised by the official confirmation of the Dutch government of the existence of Echelon.
Dutch members of the European Parliament hope the confirmation of the Dutch government will enable a much needed breakthrough for the temporary committee on Echelon in the European Parliament, which seems to have big problems in conducting its investigation.
Dutch members of the European Parliament seemed to be most pleased with the very recent developments.
The Parliament submits that the Commission does not present any evidence that the directive is even needed at all, and that it interprets a recent European Court of Justice judgment overly broadly.
The DutchParliament dryly remarks that the Commission not even attempts to argue that a distortion in trade between member states would occur without this law, and concludes that therefore "any and all factual support" for the directive is missing.
The Parliament notes that the directive would only harmonise some penalties, but that there is no indication that criminals would choose the jurisdiction with the lowest penalties to operate from.
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