The government of the Netherlands on Friday agreed to a package of measures to strengthen the state’s migration policy, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
“We want to make the Netherlands as unattractive as possible in this case,” said Asylum and Migration Minister Marjolein Faber, a member of the anti-migration Freedom Party.
In particular, the authorities want to restore checks at the borders, limit the opportunities for relatives of a person who received asylum in the Netherlands to also move into the country; shorten the validity period of temporary visas; to declare part of the zones in Syria – the country from which most migrants arrive in the Netherlands – safe, so that asylum seekers can be refused from there.
The government also wants to repeal a law that obliges communities, the basic territorial unit in the country, to host migrants.
The package of measures will soon be submitted to the parliament for approval. Before the proposals received Cabinet approval, Geert Wilders, head of the Freedom Party that dominates the government, and other party leaders held talks on how best to implement the initiative. The authorities could choose between using emergency measures, which do not require parliamentary approval, or passing laws in an accelerated mode. As a result, the government decided to choose the second option.
“The goal is to reduce the migration flow, speed up the departure of migrants, return those who do not have legal reasons to stay here (…) thereby reducing the pressure on society,” said the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Dick Sgoof.
The Dutch Refugee Council criticized the prepared measures.
According to AP, over the past 12 months, 51,500 people have requested asylum in the Netherlands, home to 18.1 million people.
The agency reminds that in Europe at present, in particular in Germany and France, there is a strengthening of the policy towards migrants. So, in September, Germany announced the introduction of controls at all its land borders. Checks started at the borders with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark. They will last at least six months. Before that, in 2023, Germany introduced border controls on its borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland.
