Ministers to discuss reducing size of parliament and senate

Thursday 12 July 2012

Ministers will discuss plans to reduce the size of the upper and lower houses of parliament at Friday's cabinet meeting, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

However, while the right-wing Liberal VVD supports the idea, the Christian Democrats are opposed, the paper says.

The paper says the Council of State, the government's most senior advisory group, is also highly critical of the suggestion. According to the paper's sources, the council says the government should not proceed with the plans in their current form.

The VVD backs cutting the lower house of parliament from 150 seats to 100 and the senate from 75 to 50.

The move would require a change to the constitution, which is a long and complicated process, the Telegraaf said.

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