The new Dutch government is striving for the strictest asylum law in Europe. According to this, the country should become “as unattractive as possible”. It now wants to pull the emergency brake.
Disengagement within the European Union: Two governments, the Netherlands and Hungary, have now announced that they want to withdraw from the joint EU asylum procedures. Instead, the two right-wing governed countries want to return to their own immigration regulations. This would be a serious setback for the unity of the EU.
The Netherlands even want to declare a state of emergency in order to severely limit the entry of asylum seekers. Parts of the asylum law should be repealed “very quickly”, announced the right-wing extremist asylum minister Marjolein Faber in The Hague. The Netherlands would have the “strictest” asylum and immigration rules in Europe, she explained. In addition, Germany’s neighboring country also wants to introduce stricter border controls.
The initiative from The Hague was used by Viktor Orbán’s equally extreme right-wing government to announce a breach of the EU consensus. Hungary also wants to withdraw from the European Union’s asylum rules. This was announced by Hungary’s European Affairs Minister Janos Boka. “Tough action is necessary against illegal migration,” he wrote on X. That is why Budapest wants to apply for an exit from these rules if a change to the EU treaties allows this. However, the EU Commission announced on Thursday that it would not agree to such a change to the EU treaties.
Dutch Asylum Minister Faber plans to restrict family reunification, increase the deportation of criminal and rejected asylum seekers, and reduce the opportunities to challenge court decisions. The government also wants to submit an application to the EU Commission to be allowed to deviate from European asylum and migration policy. It is time for a drastic change of course, said Faber. “We are taking measures to make the Netherlands as unattractive as possible for asylum seekers.”
Like Denmark, the Netherlands no longer wants to comply with EU asylum rules in the future. Faber informed the EU Commission that her government no longer wants to be bound by EU regulations on immigration issues, he said on Wednesday in the online service X. “We have to regulate our asylum policy ourselves again.”
Tightening asylum law is one of the priorities of the new right-wing government in The Hague, in which the radical right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) of right-wing populist Geert Wilders is also involved for the first time. The four-party coalition, headed by non-party Prime Minister Dick Schoof, has now presented its government program.
Wilders himself said in May that the introduction of an EU exemption for his country in immigration matters would probably take years. On Wednesday he declared that Minister Faber had “made history” with her proposal. Even the Dutch king appears to be positive about the right-wing populists’ request. In a speech to parliament, the monarch said the government’s goal was a “faster, tougher and more honest” asylum system.
According to the Dutch Immigration Council, the Netherlands could only be exempted from the common migration policy by amending the EU treaties. This would require the consent of all 27 member states. This is not very likely, as the number of asylum seekers would then have to be distributed among fewer member states. There is currently no majority in the EU for this request.
