Asylum situation is a crisis, PVV minister states: Telegraaf

The Netherlands is facing an asylum crisis and that is the official standpoint of the new government, migration minister Marjolein Faber is quoted as saying by the Telegraaf.

Faber, a minister on behalf of the far-right PVV, made the comments ahead of today’s budget talks at the prime minister’s official residence. She was responding to a Telegraaf claim that almost 40,000 family members of officially-recognised refugees are currently waiting to hear if they can join their relatives in the Netherlands, and the decision by Utrecht to close its reception centre for Ukrainians.

“We can see that Utrecht can no longer cope with the influx of Ukrainians,” she said. “Everything is full. In short, the Netherlands has a refugee crisis.”

The government says that declaring the situation an official crisis would allow the country to stop accepting refugees temporarily, but it would also set the Netherlands on a collision course with the EU.

Experts say the Netherlands can only call the situation a crisis in extreme situations and would have to prove that the current system for dealing with refugees had failed.  European commissioner Ylva Johansson has also previously said the Netherlands will have to prove its case with proper evidence if it wants to press ahead with such a declaration.

The coalition agreement drawn up between the PVV and the other three coalition parties includes a commitment to draw up temporary legislation allowing the government to call a crisis.

This would allow Faber to take tough steps to reduce refugee numbers and increase border controls. The new government is already committed to removing the requirement that all local council areas provide some form of accommodation for refugees.

Faber did not go into any details about what new steps declaring the situation a crisis would allow her to take.

Ministers are currently in talks on next year’s spending plans, which are due to be finalised by the end of the month.