The populist-led Dutch government has announced it will use emergency powers to declare a refugee crisis and formally request “withdrawal” from European Union migration policy.
Dutch Refugee Protection Minister Marjolein Faber, a member of Geert Wilders' populist Party for Freedom (PVV), said this week that the government would institute a “legal refugee crisis” to stem the tide of mass immigration into the Netherlands, the EU's most densely populated country and suffering from a housing crisis.
“People are being inconvenienced, the whole chain is stuck and they are left homeless… We have to do something about the influx – and very quickly. This can be done by declaring a legal asylum crisis,” Faber said. said According to Telegraph.
Faber echoed Wilders' promise to enact the toughest asylum system in history and said the measure would not need to go through the Dutch Senate or House of Representatives because the latter has the power to declare a state of emergency under the Aliens Act, much to the consternation of the previous government's pro-mass immigration parties.
The government has the power to enact emergency refugee restrictions, such as suspending all new decisions on refugee status for up to two years. The refugee minister also said the Netherlands would seek to “opt out” of EU asylum and migration rules, as Denmark was allowed to do in the 1990s, before the EU formalized its current system.
The refugee limits are implementation of a coalition agreement negotiated by PVV leader Geert Wilders, who became the country's largest party in last year's election and now functions as a key power player in The Hague.
Regarding the move, Wilders said: Written About X: “A breath of fresh air is blowing in the Netherlands. 2.5 million people voted for the PVV and it happened.”
“If things continue as they are, by 2050 the Dutch population will be between 21 and 23 million. That's far too many for such a small planet,” added Claudia van Zanten, an MP from coalition partner the pro-farmer BBB party. “Fortunately, there is a strong clause on immigration in this cabinet's main agreement.”
The full details of the plan have not yet been revealed, but Germany Welts Reports The government also aims to significantly reduce chain migration, with recognised refugees only being allowed to bring their relatives over if they have stayed in the country for at least two years and have their own home and a stable income.
Plans to overhaul the asylum system reportedly also include scrapping automatic residency for refugees who have lived in the country for five years, while the government also aims to reduce legal immigration by cutting the number of student and work visas available to immigrants.
