Proeve van een nieuwe grondwet: hoofdstuk 7, openbare lichamen

Abstract

Characteristic for the Concept as a whole is its — generally laudable — curtailment and simplification. In the field of ‘public bodies’ details as well as more important principles have become victims of this modernization. Undoubtedly this opens new and valuable possibilities for the legislator, especially in the field of municipal and provincial administration. An essential lack, however, is the omission of a clear statement of the principle and the main instruments of functional and territorial decentralization, a principle that is called a postulate’ in the explanatory statement of the Concept itself. The author deplores especially the proposed omission of the constitutional guarantee of a certain amount of autonomy of the townships and provinces, as is provided in the present constitution. He rejects the argument that no program issues, however important, should be included in the constitution. A principle such as that of decentralization, essential as it is for our legislation, deserves a place in our constitution. 'The author uses quotations from the constitutions of several European countries to demonstrate that the principle of decentralization is usually embedded in their constitutions. In a detailed, flexible constitution this principle would deserve extensive elaboration; in a constitution such as the authors of the Concept would like to see — i.e. a rigid, concise and formally juridical one —, it should at least be mentioned as a main principle.