“It is the strictest in the history of the country”

The Government of Netherlandsa four-party coalition that includes the radical far-right of Geert Wildershas given the green light to a package of “emergency measures” to “relieve pressure” on the asylum system, among which the reintroduction of border controls and the resumption of deportations of Syrian asylum seekers to his country.

“Is the strictest immigration policy in the country’s history“, Wilders boasted in a comment published this Saturday on the social network X.

The Dutch cabinet has assured in a letter sent to Parliament this Friday that from the end of November border controls will be carried out based on article 25 of the Schengen Border Code. Irregular migrants, including asylum seekers who have already applied for asylum in other European countries, will be returned to Germany and Belgium.

The Executive is willing to present “as soon as possible” a new regulation, the “Law on Emergency Measures for Asylum”, and Its entry into force “will be immediate after its publication” in the Official Gazette.

Temporary asylum

The government will eliminate the indefinite residence permit for refugees and will reduce the duration of the temporary permit to three years, instead of five, “this creates awareness that it is temporary,” said Premier Dick Schoof, who promised that “Inflows will decrease and outputs will increase,” since the possibility of reunifying adult children or an unmarried couple will also end.

In addition, will enable 50 to 100 additional cells next year for “the detention of foreigners,” which will be “aimed at asylum seekers who have exhausted their process or are in an illegal situation, to be deported to their country of origin.”

Syrian deportations

The Asylum policy for Syria to be “significantly tightened”since it will provisionally limit to a maximum of 200 refugees that the Netherlands will host as part of resettlement agreements under the UN framework.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will publish a report before the end of the year in which it identifies “safe zones” in Syriaand asylum seekers who are from those areas will no longer be eligible for asylum and will have to return to the Arab country, while the possibility of revoking the residence permit of already legally settled refugees is evaluated.

El PVV de Wilders y el partido democristiano NSC, los dos socios con más diferencias dentro de la coalición, han acordado estas medidas en reuniones que han mantenido en las últimas semanas, y hace apenas unos días se les han sumado los otros dos socios, los liberales del VVD y el partido de los granjeros BBB, que han dado su visto bueno al paquete de medidas acordado.

Sin embargo, Wilders ha tenido que renunciar a la aplicación de una controvertida ley de emergencia nacional, con la que pretendía suspender parte de la Ley de Extranjería y saltarse al Parlamento para aplicar mano dura con los refugiados, pero aun así, ahora espera que estas medidas “extremas” agraden a su electorado, a quien ha prometido “el régimen de asilo más estricto de la historia” de Países Bajos.