Dutch Minister for Asylum and Migration Marjolein Faber informed the European Commission (EC) on Wednesday that she wants the Netherlands to opt out of EU migration policy. Faber is a member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), led by the right-wing leader Geert Wilders, who heads the current government, and proposes to restrict immigration and the flow of asylum seekers as much as possible. In the letter she sent to Brussels on the matter, she hopes to get other partners to join her aspiration. The EC has recalled today that a decision of this kind requires changes in the regulations on which the European Union is based.
The voluntary exclusion sought by Faber could take years, as it requires the modification of the European Treaty and the agreement of all Member States. It is a long-term procedure, something that she herself acknowledges in the letter she has sent to the Commission. In a way, the speed with which she has acted is a symbolic gesture because it will not immediately limit immigration. However, the minister does not hide that she wants to try “to get other Member States to join this initiative to advance in the migration file.” Last Thursday, in his presentation of the Government programme, the Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, already stressed that he would continue working on the common asylum policy of the EU. “But in the end we want to configure it as we see fit,” he explained.
As soon as she acknowledged receipt of the Dutch request, the EU spokesperson for the Interior, Anitta Hipper, declared that the European Commission “does not expect imminent changes” to asylum and migration regulations, which will continue “to be mandatory in the Netherlands,” she said. Despite the impact of her request, Marjolein Faber also acknowledges in her letter that the Netherlands considers the implementation of the migration pact approved in May 2024 by the Twenty-Seven to be a priority. This agreement brings together the rules of application for people in an irregular situation who arrive in the EU, and the spokesperson Hipper has appreciated that she has made this point clear. But even with this admission, the Dutch minister wants to demonstrate to the electorate that she is advancing the government programme.
Faber has announced her request to the European Commission through her X account. Very active on this platform, she did the same last week to announce that the Netherlands would have “the strictest asylum policy ever”. This message concluded by saying that she was betting “on a safer country”, to justify the reduction of the flow of asylum seekers. This is the argument put forward by Wilders’ PVV, which advocates reducing their arrival in the country as soon as possible. The formula that appears in the government programme is the declaration of an asylum crisis for two years. Another plan that is difficult to translate into real events, since it requires activating the Emergency Law intended for extraordinary situations such as a flood or even a war.
Among the measures announced by the Dutch government to limit asylum is the elimination of indefinite asylum and family reunification for adult children. A refugee can only reunite with his family if he has a stable income, housing and has been residing legally for two years. And people without a residence permit can be forcibly deported if necessary. At the moment, only three EU countries have opt-out clauses in different areas: Denmark, Ireland and Poland. The Danes have not adopted the euro and are outside the economic and monetary union. They also do not participate in cooperation in matters of justice and security. The latter is also the case in Ireland, which is not part of the Schengen agreement, although it can choose to apply some of its provisions. Poland is outside the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, but these rights are invoked in other sections of European legislation, according to the portal for access to European Union Law.
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