symbiosisThe Netherlands will not accept asylum seekers from countries such as Italy and Greece at the moment. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eric van der Burg (Asylum) said in the House of Representatives that the Netherlands cannot and will not comply with this European Solidarity Agreement to redistribute asylum seekers.
Van der Burg says that given the problems at the Ter Apel application centre, crowded asylum seeker centers and many crisis shelters, “this is not the time to accommodate a few hundred additional asylum seekers.”
The Foreign Secretary will also announce this message later this week in Luxembourg, where European Ministers of State and Ministers of State for Justice and/or Home Affairs meet to discuss European asylum and migration policy. Van der Burgh will also insist on compliance with the Dublin system for asylum claims. This states that the asylum application must in principle be submitted in the first country in which the asylum seeker enters Europe.
it is not fair
“I believe that a good, fair and equitable asylum policy can only succeed if the agreements are preserved. It is not fair that other countries do not do this,” van der Burg said in the parliamentary debate in preparation for the meeting in Luxembourg.
The foreign minister said that more than a third of asylum seekers who are now staying in an asylum seeker center do not belong to it according to the “Dublin rules”, but have to go through an asylum procedure in another country. If those 3,600 people had not ended up in Dutch asylum seekers centers, a huge capacity problem could have been resolved, he said.
Sorting and recording
Van der Burg says that good screening and registration are indispensable to a fair European asylum policy. He maintains that as long as this is not arranged properly, the Netherlands will not accept asylum seekers from other countries. “There is nothing to talk about until then.”
The house is divided to receive asylum seekers. The coalition party VVD, among others, describes the current refugee influx as untenable and too much for the Netherlands. Member of Parliament Robin Bricklemans (VVD) believes that the foreign minister should do more to reduce the flow of refugees and increase the return of asylum seekers who have exhausted all legal remedies.
The JA21 and the SGP also believe that more work should be done to deport those who have exhausted all legal remedies. Various parties, such as PvdA and SP, find the situation at Ter Apel very worrying. “A mess,” in the words of SP MP Jasper Van Dyck.
Unlimited free access to Showbytes? And that can!
Sign in or create an account and never miss a thing from the stars.
“Lifelong zombie fanatic. Hardcore web practitioner. Thinker. Music expert. Unapologetic pop culture scholar.”