The Netherlands

Speechmaking in the Dutch parliament is characterized by party dominance and individual autonomy. This paradoxical situation can be understood from the perspective of specialization: every Member of Parliament acts as a spokesperson on a specific issue for their party. Therefore, usually, only one MP per party participates in a debate. Within their policy portfolio, MPs enjoy considerable autonomy, in particular in deciding whether to participate in a debate and what to say. The leadership does not decide for each debate whether or not to delegate speaking time to individual MPs, but rather at the beginning of the parliamentary term when the portfolios are assigned. An empirical analysis of debate participation and the number of words spoken shows that these are most strongly related to electoral list position and seniority. PPG leaders speak longer than other MPs, but we observe no such effect for committee chairs or PPG board members.