THE HAGUE, 11/02/03 - The Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) will present a plan this month for drastically changing the way the Lower House works. The endless series of unscheduled debates, motions, written questions and committee meetings must be halted, according to the party.

The LPF proposes that each parliamentary party should be limited to 75 written questions per year. In addition, the support of at least one third of the Lower House would be required to request an unscheduled debate or submit a motion in which the House expresses its opinion of cabinet policy.

"Overuse has made the tools blunt," LPF MP Joost Eerdmans explained yesterday. "Parties should ask themselves whether a motion has a chance of success. Nearly 1,200 motions were submitted last year, but only 400 were passed," said the MP, who suspects that parties often only use the motions to bring their own position to the attention of the media.

The LPF also advocates a drastic reduction in the number of plenary debates (91 last year) and committee meetings (569), and the written questions (1,563) and motions (1,158) arising from these. Instead, the party presses for more debates with the cabinet on important topical issues. "With regular discussions in which the House can direct the government, there will be and end to the daily accountability circus," Eerdmans contended.

There is a chance that the LPF plans will be supported. They are an extension of the wish of all MPs for meetings to be shorter and more to the point.