Abstract

Democracy is intimately linked with the institution of parliament. If there are problems with the functioning of the parliament, democracy is considered as being in danger. Three kinds of problems are aften raised in this respect : technical problems, politica! problems and personnel problems. The technical problems refer to the technicity and complexity of the subjects to be dealt with in parliament. The political problems refer mainly to the loss of political power of the parliament, to the benefit of political parties and pressure groups. The personnel problems refer to the job of MP itself, which has become a full-time job, but which is still a very unstable position.Two hundred and fifty Belgian MP's were asked for their opinion about all this. The results show that they are primarily concerned with the technical problems, and that they suggest technical remedies for a better functioning of the parliament. The Belgian MP's do recognize the importance of the political problems, especially the domination of the political scene by the political parties, but they are not very eager to propose measures with a direct impact on this.