An “emergency law” to deal with the asylum crisis in the Netherlands: this is one of the flagship measures of the government programme presented on Friday 13 September in The Hague by Prime Minister Dick Schoof. Supported by Marjolein Faber, Minister for Asylum and Migration, a member of Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom (PVV, far right), this project aims to reintroduce border controls and temporarily suspend the examination of asylum applications, tighten reception conditions and limit family reunification, which would be impossible in particular for adult children. The new government also hopes to conclude agreements with countries of origin to prevent the departure of their nationals.
Invoking the concept of “exceptional circumstances”, Mme Faber believes that his approach is consistent with the law and the Constitution, although until now only a natural disaster, a war or a pandemic could justify the adoption of “emergency” measures. Lawyers were quick to criticize the minister’s project, including Viola Bex-Reimert: we cannot leave Parliament out of the game to solve a problem created by the authorities themselves, she explained in substance in the daily. NRC, this professor of public law at the University of Utrecht.
Fall in the number of asylum seekers
For her, as for other experts, it was precisely the authorities’ refusal to distribute the applicants across all municipalities in the country and to increase the capacity of reception centres that caused the difficulties. The latest data also indicate a drop in the number of asylum applications (2,600 in July), after a peak in October 2023 (5,000). Some 27,000 temporary residence permits were granted in 2023, 2,500 fewer than the previous year.
It is now up to Mr Schoof, the Prime Minister without a label and former senior civil servant, to submit a bill to the Second Chamber with a view to establishing emergency measures. If they vote in favour, the deputies and then the senators will give M.me Faber to implement a policy consistent with his party’s programme.
Elected since 2011, she had previously presented herself as a supporter of “Harsh, unqualified positions, such as banning the Koran, closing all mosques, eliminating Islam.” However, since her appointment as minister, she has muted her more radical comments, just like Wilders. Indeed, she will have to convince two other parties in the governing coalition: the New Social Contract (NSC, centre-right) and, above all, the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD, liberal). The latter, then led by Mark Rutte, refused, in 2022, to adopt emergency measures while the reception centres were completely overcrowded. Another difficulty: in the Senate, the current coalition only has 29 seats out of 75.
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