Since the dualization of municipal councils in the Netherlands in 2002, they have had the local right of inquiry at their disposal. This control instrument gives municipal councils far-reaching powers, such as the option of hearing witnesses under oath. These powers ensure that municipal councils obtain all the factual information about the administration conducted by the municipal executive and the mayor. The local right of inquiry may only be used proportionally. Post-graduate research done by the author shows that the control instrument is not meeting the legislator’s expectations. This article deals with the question of what is causing this. To answer this question, the local right of inquiry and all local surveys between 2002 and 2019 were examined. Three case studies were also conducted. The author found that municipal councils often fail to collect all information and that the control instrument is often not used proportionally. However, that was not the intention of the legislature. This leads to the conclusion that further regulation of the right of inquiry and further guidance for councilors on applying the right of inquiry are necessary to strengthen and improve the local right of inquiry.

In this article, based on a case study in three Dutch municipalities (Groningen, Tilburg and Zwolle) , the author analyzes in a structured manner what municipalities are doing to improve the social position of sex workers, and what the role of legislation and regulations is in this regard. Central to this are the four resources that are associated with the concept of social position and its improvement: social capital, cultural capital, economic capital and personal capital. Municipal activities that contribute to improving the social position of sex workers in that area are explained for each resource. This is followed by an exploration of the role of legislation and regulations in improving the position of sex workers, in which the author studies the extent to which ‘hard’ side of the policy – the legislation and regulations – is congruent with the ‘soft’ side of the policy – that part of the sex work policy that is not shaped by legislation and regulations, such as the financing of various aid organizations and social initiatives. This makes it clear that legislation and regulations not only contribute to improving the position of sex workers, they also work against them.

David Simons is on the list of the legal scholars that helped shape the early history of (local) administrative sciences in the Netherlands, which was dominated by the legal approach to local government. He held the first Dutch chair in Public Administration in Rotterdam, which was left by Gerrit van Poelje in 1933 and then taken over by Adriaan Koelma (first as a lecturer, and then as a professor from 1946). His work was carried out at the intersection of administrative law and Public Administration. This essay focuses on three publications: his Leiden dissertation on municipal companies from 1939, his inaugural lecture on the relationship between administration and administrators from 1948 and his preliminary advice on the relationship between administrative law and Public Administration from 1955. From 1957 onwards, he was professor of constitutional and administrative law in Rotterdam. As a government commissioner, he also played an important role in the revision of the Dutch Constitution.

The actions and demonstrations of the gilets jaunes (the yellow vests) prompted the newly appointed French president Macron to make a promise: to reform the public administration and other training for top officials. With regard to the latter, the idea was to abolish the existing ENA (‘École Nationale d’Administration’) and create a new institution: an institution that would offer opportunities to people from all kinds of social classes and not just to a small elite. Macron left no doubt about it: down with the ENA and on the way to a new institution: the INSP (‘Institut national du service public’). The time has come. The ENA was abolished on 1 January 2022 and the INSP has replaced it. The new institute is intended to ensure that the top civil servants shaped by the institute see their government task primarily as a social task and that they are also more at the service of society, instead of working on their own career. The question in all this is whether the INSP can achieve Macron’s ambitions. Or, to put it differently, is the INSP a real innovation or is it more like ‘old wine in new bottles’?

Based on a case study into the amalgamation of Haren, Groningen and Ten Boer (the Netherlands), the author examines whether the criterion of fair procedure is being met. Amalgamations have been the order of the day since the 1970s. Many of the arguments used by politicians have not been confirmed or even disproved by academia. In those cases where a municipality and its inhabitants resist amalgamation, power appears to be a more important factor than the quality of the argument. The legal protection created for this purpose in a constitutional state appears to be virtually sidelined in all attempts to involve the courts in amalgamations. This is contrary to the criteria for a fair procedure.