On 18 October, the Venice Commission published its first ever opinion on the Netherlands dealing with the Childcare Allowance Scandal (toeslagenaffaire). It includes a list of rather detailed proposals for the legislator, the executive and the judicial branch, also pointing at the prohibition of constitutional review which is one of the hallmarks of the Dutch Constitution. In February this year, the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Dutch Parliament requested an opinion of the

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... e Commission on how to improve the system of administrative justice, now that even countervailing powers had not prevented thousands of families from being confronted with State-inflicted hardship. While its conclusions are not groundbreaking, the opinion of the Venice Commission must be welcomed for highlighting the crucial connection between individual justice, proportionality and fundamental rights. Starting from a rather 'thick' conception of the rule of law, the Commission is able to bridge the procedural and practical shortcomings in legislative and executive practice, with a much needed call for more effective (judicial) fundamental rights protection. Thereby, it fills a gap and hopefully contributes to substantive change.