Ymre Schuurmans appointed on Council of State’s external reflection committee on child benefits scandal
The Council of State in the Netherlands has drawn up a programme of reflection to evaluate the role of the highest administrative court in the child benefits scandal and to learn lessons for the future.
In December 2020, the Council of State received sharp criticism from the parliamentary committee of inquiry which investigated its actions in litigation concerning these benefits. The committee found that the administrative courts had neglected the important function of providing (legal) protection to individual citizens.
The Council of State hopes to finalise its report in November or December. The programme will be supervised by an external committee chaired by Henk Kummeling, Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and Rector Magnificus of Utrecht University. The other members of the committee are Anne Ruth Mackor (Professor of Professional Echics, Groningen University), Ymre Schuurmans (Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law, Leiden University), Robert Crince le Roy (a lawyer in Rotterdam and member of the General Council of the Netherlands Bar) and Addi Stehouwer (ombudsman for The Hague).